Chapter Two: The Game of Love


With a gasp the fire demon awoke, his heart doing a drum-roll in his chest. Sitting up slowly, he leaned heavily on his arm and ran his other hand through his hair, brushing the sweat from his forehead. His fingers brushed his cheek and he quickly rubbed away the wet trails from his tears. He must have been crying in his sleep, as weak and disgusting as that sounded to the fire demon. Then, almost instinctively as the memory of the dream returned to him, he reached up and his hand closed around the tear on his necklace. That determined, he stood up.

Some of the candles had gone out while he was sleeping, no doubt from the massive flood of his emotions. With a wave of his hand they re-ignited and flared once again as he passed. Taking his katana from its rack Hiei slid it through his belt. It had become almost second nature to carry it and he wasn't lenient even in the palace. He got the frequent impression that most of the soldiers didn't like him very much. Tossing his cloak around his shoulders he stepped through the door and into the hallway outside.

The fortress was deserted, at least in Hiei's wing. A walkway went all the way around the outside of the palace, large arches like windows allowing light and a breeze. Hiei stood in one of these and leaned against the wall, staring out into the darkness. He guessed it was a few hours past midnight and knew that the presence of his energy guaranteed none of the guards would stray near. The feel of his energy disturbed him; it wasn't as forceful as normal and his emotions flowed strongly through it. Anyone that had the nerve to approach him would feel everything he was feeling, and the fire demon didn't like the sound of that at all. Nervously he glanced around, realizing how awkward of a time this would be for Mukuro to pay him a visit.

Anxiously Hiei tried to check his emotions, or at least mask them for the time being. He had become very good at this throughout his childhood and found it most useful when dealing with demons like Kurama, who seemed to notice even the slightest waver in energy. He found anger hid his true feelings best and had even developed a method for this. It used to be thinking of his upbringing, but after he went to Human World it had changed. Immediately an image of Kuwabara flitted into his head and he growled softly under his breath.

With his thoughts so focused on himself, Hiei failed to notice the two other energies nearby. One was extremely close to him, crouching just out of view. If Hiei had known he was there he would have killed him in an instant. This demon was one of the fire demon's many rivals in the palace, but for more than the usual reason of Hiei's position. No one but himself knew about the second reason, and he glared at the fire demon with narrowed cyan eyes.

He had been a high ranking demon mercenary from the time of the three kingdoms of Demon World and had been employed by Mukuro for the likely upcoming war between the kingdoms. That never happened, but the former lord had kept him in her service, though his usefulness had greatly declined. Now he trained her soldiers and elite guard to keep his swordsmanship from growing rusty. Both him and the fire demon that had become second in command refused to spar with each other after a heated dispute between them that had come to blows before Mukuro interrupted them.

Nervously he ran a hand through his red hair and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, ignoring the pain that shot through his legs. He had been walking when he turned a corner and spotted Hiei, when he immediately ducked out of sight. It was mostly his curiosity that had kept him from leaving much earlier. The fire demon seemed angry (not that this was unusual, he conceded) and he wanted desperately to know why. For a moment a hopeful thought flew through his mind but he dismissed it immediately as impossible and continued to watch the demon.

The other energy that Hiei should have sensed was much farther away and would have required more concentration to find. It was in fact another very familiar one that he would have recognized in an instant, though most likely for worse. She directly impacted his thoughts and would have angered and maybe even embarrassed him if he knew she could feel everything he was thinking.

Mukuro paced in her chambers, not really focusing on what she was doing. She could sense Hiei and the very forceful anger he was emitting. This had surprised her for a moment before she settled down and decided to investigate. Her powers were well enough developed that she could see through the mask he had on his emotions and had discovered the true reason he was awake in the middle of the night.

She herself rarely ever slept more than a few scattered hours of the night out of an age-old habit. Though she knew Hiei was the same way she had never felt him wandering the fortress at night. Usually he would sit in his chamber, lost in thoughts that she frequently tapped and listened to. Many of these didn't surprise her; recollections of his past with the ice apparitions, the few precious memories he had of his sister Yukina, the times he had spent working for Spirit World. These she had expected and found rather interesting.

But there was something else that had caught her eye in the past few weeks that she had found interesting as well. Yukina was not the only female occupying the fire demon's thoughts and she could usually detect a surge of emotion that came forward with her memory, though it was confused enough that she couldn't tell what it was. This newest dream had sparked her suspicions, but the feeling she always felt from him could be simply anger or confusion. It seemed almost impossible that Hiei could have feelings for her when he cared so little about everything else.

Hiei took a final forlorn glance at the moon before turning and starting back toward his chambers. He took a few steps before he paused, listening intently with his eyes narrowed. He recognized that energy; the distance between them nearly unnerved him. How had he allowed someone to get that close? His hand closing around the hilt of his sword, in a swirl of his cloak he vanished. Appearing around the corner a few feet away, Hiei swung sharply and felt his stroke parried hastily at the last minute. Jumping back to keep his distance, he lowered his sword but didn't sheath it.

"What are you doing here Khiva?" the fire demon growled darkly.

Knowing he'd been caught, Khiva rose to his feet and sheathed his sword. Brushing his black bangs from his eyes he smiled at Hiei, who glared in reply, still expecting an answer. "You're always so suspicious Hiei, even high ranking demons have to patrol once in a while," he said sweetly, his long fangs catching in the light.

Hiei snorted. "You can cut the shit, this isn't the first time I've caught you like this. I sincerely doubt you're that interested in what I do every day."

"On the contrary Hiei," Khiva whispered, "I'm more than interested."

Both glared at each other for a moment, Hiei still trying to digest his words. He was reminded grossly for a moment of the elder Toguro brother, always slinking around and trying to intimidate people. He didn't put it past the ferret demon in front of him either. He loathed Khiva, from his long black bangs and red hair to the leather boots he wore that Hiei knew concealed a knife at his ankle. The hem of a cloak swirled around his ankles and shadowed the armor the fire demon knew he was wearing, anymore out of habit than anything.

"So tell me why you have the nerve to keep following me?" Hiei demanded. "Nothing I do should have any meaning to you." Shouldn't, he reminded himself, but obviously does.

"Well Hiei, I happen to have the nerve because I've faced enemies much greater than yourself in the preceding to the war." He smirked as the fire demon glared and tightened his grip around his katana. Insults usually worked on Hiei. "So I think this would be more a question of motive then how I came across the ability."

Hiei didn't reply, his brain working quickly behind his emotionless eyes. So Khiva thought he had a good reason for following him. Okay, so he needed to check how he handled his free time, that sorted that out. Now the question remained as to why he was so keen to know what he was doing all the time. Did it have to do with his position? The answer to that was most likely a firm yes. Half the demons in the palace were plotting against him. They were angry about how he had gone from being a nobody in the dungeons to Mukuro's right-hand man in a few months, while they had been there for years and were still lowlifes. The fire demon smirked, that was their fault.

But that didn't apply to Khiva at all. He was a powerful demon that Hiei knew Mukuro held in regard for his skills. Though, now that he thought back on it, she had been rather distant with him lately. Did that have something to do with it? Ever since he had taken over Khiva had been given less and less leverage in the fortress. So he was jealous? Jealous of the amount of attention Mukuro had been paying her newest vassal? Hm, that idea had merits and Hiei wanted to know if it was accurate.

Khiva noticed the gleam in the fire demon's third eye and immediately closed his mind. After a frustrating moment of struggling at his defenses the fire demon gave up with a muttered curse and raised his two crimson eyes to Khiva's cyan ones. The ferret was smiling triumphantly and it infuriated Hiei, almost enough for him to disregard all self-control and attack him. At the last moment he buried that impulse and forced his voice to be calm.

"So tell me Khiva. This new fixation you have with me…if wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Mukuro would it?"

It was obvious from the temporary lapse in his smug look that Hiei had been right. So he was jealous. Jealous that Mukuro liked him more than the worthless, sneaking…Hiei's mind carried on with every insult he could think of for the demon while his heart was pounding. So Mukuro liked him the most? No, no one had ever said that, he was just jumping to conclusions with that one. But who was to say it wasn't true?

The confident air Khiva had originally was gone. He was glaring darkly at the fire demon, contemplating the easiest way to spear his head on a pike. How much had he truly given away just then? From the distant look in Hiei's eyes it was apparent he was fantasizing something, which in itself make Khiva suspicious. For most of their little chat he had remained emotionless, but for a second, when he had dropped his guard, the ferret demon had spotted an elated look in his rival's eye. He was happy that he was jealous, which could mean very few things. Either he was spiteful (he knew Hiei was) or that it threw him into better perspective with the lord (Khiva wondered why this would matter at all to the fire demon). Then something clicked.

"Well Hiei, I guess I can't say I'm flattered you're trying to make an attempt to better understand me, but I think we've both came to a conclusion. So I'll offer you this; a challenge, if you will." That caught Hiei's attention and he looked up curiously. "Now I know we're both men of honor, and the honorable way to solve a conflict such as ours would be in a duel."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. Since when had he and Khiva been in a conflict? Apart from that time I nearly ripped his head off, the fire demon admitted grudgingly, but somehow I don't think that's what he's getting at.

"At least, that would be the way, but seeing as we're in no position to do such a thing I have an alternate idea."

"Before you begin flattering yourself with your plan, would you care to tell me exactly what you're going on about?" Hiei interrupted stubbornly. He was confused and wasn't sure that he liked the way this was playing out. "I don't have any reason to be jealous of you or to try and pick a worthless fight," he added to hide any possibility that he didn't understand what was happening.

Khiva smiled knowingly. "You are ignorant aren't you? Well, if I must be so blunt, I'll say this in your terms: We're both looking for Mukuro's affections, are we not? But instead of wasting our time trying to prove it to ourselves, allowing her the choice would settle the superiority dispute for good. The better man always wins Hiei."

The fire demon could only gape at him for a moment. "WHAT?" he managed to gasp finally, all his composure gone. "WHAT IN HELL GAVE YOU THAT IDEA?" Recovering slightly, the fire demon forced himself to breathe and said in a forcibly calmer voice, "You've finally lost what little intellect you ever had Khiva. If you think for a moment that I care at all about Mukuro's weak emotions you're stupider than any human I've ever seen." He refrained at the last moment from naming Kuwabara.

"Hiei, I'm more than confident that you do care about these so called 'weak emotions'. That's why I'm confident to challenge you to this little race. If you think you can best me and win Mukuro's heart than you're welcome to try."

"For the last time," Hiei snapped angrily, "what in hell makes you think I care for her at all?" The fire demon turned with a curse and started to walk away, only to freeze with Khiva's next words.

"If you don't care, then why did you stay?"


Mukuro broke off her connection with Hiei's mind. Well this had turned into quite an educational evening. Not to mention interesting, she found listening to Khiva's proposition most fascinating. So this was what they hoped to accomplish was it? Well she could always make it harder for them. She already hid her emotions as it was, a little more secrecy wouldn't hurt either of them, though there was no doubt they would get frustrated. Then again, she always liked keeping her subordinates a little baffled.
Hiei stalked back to his chambers growling under his breath and cursing everything from the sky to Khiva's smug grin. That damned ferret, this was just like something he would do. But then, it did explain why he had shown such an interest in what he had been doing. He had wanted to make sure that Hiei hadn't been getting too friendly with their lord. And now he had framed him so that to prove once and for all he was superior he would have to do exactly that, and keep Khiva from it at the same time. What a wonderful situation.

So now not only did he fail at keeping his thoughts from Khiva, he had to try and keep them from Mukuro, who would be much harder to fool. There were times that he could feel the former lord probing at his mind and when he had to forcefully shut her out. Then there were times that he conceded defeat and allowed her to listen to his thoughts, mostly times when he wasn't really thinking about much of anything. Little did he know that she was frequently hiding her presence in his thoughts from him and secretly learning things that would have greatly angered him if he was aware she was doing it. Tonight had been, unknowingly for Hiei, one of those times, and again unknowingly for him, she was going to confront him about it.

Yes, this was a wonderful situation.


Yes I realized that Mukuro's eyes are blue and changed it later...must have missed it here...whatever...

Wow this has only been posted for 10 minutes and already I have reviews...

Hiei: (eyeroll)