*Standard Disclaimers Apply* This chapter: implied Mukuro X Kurama and Yomi X Kurama

Once I started writing this chapter, I couldn't stop until it was finished and published. Hope you enjoy it!

"Ten days." Hiei said.

"What?" Mukuro arched her eyebrow.

"Ten days." Hiei repeated. "That's what the fox asked me to tell you. Nine days, if you count the amount of time I needed to complete my mission and return."

Completing the mission hadn't taken very much of his time, especially after Youko Kurama told him where to find the other camps. The delay was caused by the fox's request.

It turned out that Kurama was looking for a hidden building deep in Gandaran territory. But without any objects to launch the search off of, it had been next to impossible for the jagan to find the building. The fox had asked if the jagan was only effective if it had a physical clue. When Hiei had told him no, even a scent or a memory could help, the fox had slashed his own arm, letting the blood flow freely out of the wound. The fox had explained that his blood carried a strange chemical scent that the building he needed to find also carried. Armed with the olfactory information, Hiei had managed to locate the building after a very lengthy scan with his jagan. Whoever the owner of this building was, he or she did not wanted it to be found. It was located up in the Tempest Mountains of Gandara and concealed in an ancient forest. Having repaid half of his debt to the fox, Hiei had flitted northward to complete his mission.

"Nine days then." Mukuro's voice brought Hiei back to the present.

"Woman, what are you and the fox up to?" Hiei gave Mukuro a disapproving glare.

"I will tell you when I deem it appropriate," Mukuro retorted bluntly. "Do not question me."

"Don't make me use my jagan on you," threatened Hiei. Though he had never asked for it, he was Mukuro's heir after all. What kind of heir would he be if he had no idea what his King was planning?

"Hmph. I'd like to see you try. Your jagan is not strong enough to invade my thoughts."

Not getting the answers he wanted, Hiei flitted out of Mukuro's quarters with a dirty look. Determined to get to the bottom of this, he started to keep a close eye on all activities, especially Mukuro's activities, in the ten day period.

Day One

The day Hiei saw the fox. Asides from the two strange favors, nothing significant happened. As he was scanning for the building Kurama was looking for, he briefly tried to penetrate the youko's mind with the jagan. Taking advantage of the fact that the fox was distracted, he managed to slide in through a little crack, but the fox quickly caught him and kicked him out. After he found the building and informed the fox of its location, they parted ways.

Day Two

Hiei returned to Mukuro's castle and delivered both his update on the Gandaran camps and the fox's message. Since Mukuro wouldn't give him any information on her plans, he vented his pent up frustration on chocolate cakes and terrorized the servants with his foul mood.

Day Three

Mukuro invited Hiei to train at the borders near Tourin. She decided it was also appropriate for their troops to conduct a military exercise and made them practice charges and ambushes before she turned her attention to Hiei. Still angry at Mukuro for keeping him in the dark, Hiei sparred with her at full power. He even unleashed his Dragon of Darkness and absorbed it to boost his power. The two of them fought fiercely and even managed to level a hill. In the end, Hiei didn't win. The angry jaganshi decided he needed to train harder.

Day Four

Having absorbed his dragon and used up his stamina in the process, Hiei had no choice but to hibernate for a full day. He had a disturbing dream of the fox being wedged between Mukuro and Yomi, the three of them fusing together into a twisted tangle before morphing into a moaning monster.

Day Five

When he finally awoke, the first thing he did was check on Mukuro, the nightmare had made an impression on him. He caught her directing a courier to deliver a communication orb but was unable to intercept the message.

Later that day, he felt three consecutive blasts of incredible citrusy demon energy coming from Tourin. Yusuke must be getting stronger. Hiei asked Mukuro what she thought of that display of power. She simply shrugged and said that Yusuke is too predictable and easy to provoke. Inspired by Yusuke's growth in energy levels, Hiei spent the rest of his day training while also keeping his jagan open to track what Mukuro was doing. She must have been aware of this because she spent the rest of her day with her male courtesans. Hiei had no interest in seeing her fornicate, so he closed his jagan mid-way through the first tryst.

Day Six

Once again, Mukuro wanted to the troops to conduct some military exercises. Returning to the site of the hill they had flattened three days ago, the troops performed an extensive blitz exercise. This was Hiei's specialty, as he was of the personal opinion that lightening fast speed, well-coordinated maneuvers, and the shock of sudden violence is the best way to beat an enemy, both physically and psychologically. Excited by the exercises, he commanded the troops to perform additional raiding formation drills.

Perhaps stirred by his rare show of passion, Mukuro once again invited Hiei to spar. Hiei concluded that she must have been inspired by Yusuke as well. It wasn't a surprise to the jaganshi because as they felt the day before, Yusuke's raw power was indeed impressive. It would be a pleasure to fight the Tourinese King once the boy-king gained better control of his powers. This time, the general was reluctant to use his dragon because he knew it would cause him to hibernate, rendering him incapable of monitoring his king. Remarkably, he found himself more interested in discovering her ploys than winning.

That night, Shigure returned from his mission with 24 barrier creating demons in tow. Hiei was surprised it took the surgeon so long, but then Hiei had the added advantage of a jagan. Mukuro challenged these demons to produce a barrier that barred all foreign material (with the exception of oxygen) into an enclosed area. Then, once the technique was established, they were to work together to create a mega-barrier that would cover an immense area. It was becoming apparent to Hiei that Mukuro was preparing for war. With Raizen dead, Tourin was an easy target, but it was unlike Mukuro to bully weaklings. Yet, on the Gandaran front, save for the useless little camps scattered around the border, Yomi had made no move to provoke a confrontation. What did Mukuro expect to happen on day ten?

Day Seven

Hiei woke up on day seven to the vibrations of another three consecutive energy blasts. Yusuke was really getting quite trigger happy. Hiei did a rough estimate of the Tourinese king's power and came to the realization that it measured roughly at 4 million. Hiei changed his mind about considering Tourin an easy target. At full power, he himself measured roughly 1.8 million in youki. This was really high for someone his age and he knew that he was considered a prodigy in many circles, nevertheless, he had some catching up to do.

Day Eight

Although Hiei had badly wanted to train in private, he didn't wanted to cease his observation of Mukuro. Instead, he invited Mukuro to watch him train and give him some guidence on his technique and power control. Mukuro helpfully pointed out a few mistakes she had caught him making when they sparred. Hiei then spent the rest of the day concentrating on obliterating those bad habits.

Day Nine

As he was heading out to an isolated patch of forest he liked to use as his training grounds, he intercepted a courier on his way to deliver a communication orb and a small parchment to Mukuro. Hiei unrolled the parchment to discover a map. Unable to view the communication orb without destroying it, he took it upon himself to make the delivery. He had to make sure that he was present when the message was played.

Mukuro wasn't even surprised that the message was delivered by Hiei instead of the messenger. She must have realized that he's been monitoring her closely for the past week.

Briefly, she looked like she was considering asking Hiei to leave so that she could watch the message privately. But then she probably came to the realization that since Hiei was aware of the message, he could easily use his jagan to spy on her.

She threw the orb at a bare wall where it shattered to the ground. An image started to form where the orb first made contact. As the image slowly focused, Hiei realized with a start that the message was from Yomi.

"Greetings Mukuro,

It was an immense surprise to hear from you. It seems that things have been interesting in Alaric. By the by, please accept my condolences for the captains you lost to that simpleton Yusuke. I'd imagine that you will take your vengeance shortly as I've been sensing quite a bit of activity on the border you share with Tourin. Perhaps you've grown sick of Tourin's pacifist attitude? It was a worthy adversary when our dear friend, Raizen, was still alive. Now, it is being ruled by a simpleton with more demon energy than he knew how to control. Do advise me when you finally decide to get rid of that half-mazoku eye sore. I'm of the opinion that he is tarnishing our reputation as mazoku.

I trust that you enjoyed the company of my fox, he smelled strongly of you when he returned to be with his true master. Don't mind him too much, he's a fickle butterfly that likes to flutter from flower to flower. Make no mistake though, he only hungers for my nectar. Should our negotiation go well though, I'd be more than happy to share.

By the way, congratulations on the successor. I've felt his power and would love to meet him in person. However, you may need to revoke his appointment as heir if you wish me to accept your proposal. Won't you agree that the heir for all of Makai be chosen by both its King and its Queen?

This brings me to the core of this message, I've heard your proposal and is interested in learning more. Could I suggest meeting in person to discuss your proposition in detail? There are many elements we need to review and I feel strongly that the final arrangement must be agreeable for the both of us. I suppose we should meet in neutral territory? Attached to this message is a map of the no man's land between the northern borders of our territories. I hope you don't mind desserts. Pick a day, I will be at the designated location. Feel free to bring Hiei."

Signalling the end of the message, the image of Yomi dissolved from the wall. Hiei immediately turned to Mukuro, "What did you propose?"

"A union."

"You mean a marriage?"

"Marriage, merger, mating, alliance, coupling, consortium, partnership - whatever you want to call it. It's all the same to me." Mukuro answered with an air of nonchalance.

"As your heir, did it not cross your mind to discuss these matters with me?" Even though Hiei never planned on being successor to Mukuro's empire, (besides, he expected Mukuro to live another few hundred years which means being heir doesn't actually mean anything), he couldn't help but feel betrayed by how secretive Mukuro have been.

"That is what we are doing right now, isn't it?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I've always longed to unify Makai. If my proposal is accepted, it will help me achieve this goal."

"There are other ways. You have the strongest army in Makai. Why not exercise that power?"

"There are too many factors at play. Yomi is not what he seems. I believe he has a hidden trump card, one that he might be itching to use."

"So the fox sent you a warning." Hiei concluded, satisfied that he finally understood the meaning of that cryptic message.

"Yes, I needed to dissuade Yomi from taking action."

"Why would the fox help us? He's the butterfly to Yomi's nectar after all," Hiei spat. That distasteful metaphor left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"For whatever reason, the fox does not want Yomi to use his trump card." Hiei recalled Kurama's explanation of his disagreement on Yomi's military tactics.

"The people of Alaric will not be pleased if your proposal is accepted. They value their independent and heritage."

"I will deal with them when the time comes. First, I need to deal with Yomi."

"Hn." Curiosity now fulfilled, Hiei flitted out of the Mukuro's quarter.

Day Ten

Exactly as Mukuro intended, nothing happened on day ten. Retiring from his role as lead investigator, Hiei spent the whole day napping in his favorite tree.

Author's Notes: Hope you all enjoyed it!

I'm slowly coming to the realization that this project is quite ambitious for a first time fan fic writer. Perhaps I should have stuck with a one chapter story...but this was screaming to be written, so here I am.

I have an idea of where this is all going to go but there are many kinks to work out in between. I also have an idea of what the climax of the story should be like, but it may involve a disturbing scene. Any thoughts on that?

Also, do you think Yusuke should find out about Shuichi withholding his true identity from him this entire time? How should Yusuke react?

Anyway, enough rambling. Please review! I need your ideas!