Chapter Three: The Race is On


Dawn brought three demons from their chambers early. One of them was nervous, having spent the night deep in thought and not having gotten very far, especially where the matter of his emotions was concerned. Another was excited with the prospect of a challenge and being able to finally express his true feelings. And the third was expectant, fully knowing of the demons' plan and waiting with a mischievous one of her own. It was with these three demons that the palace slowly rose to life and began its usual routines.

Hiei leapt through the trees with his sword at his side. He usually patrolled the perimeter and surrounding areas in the morning, just at dawn when the sun was barely showing over the treetops. He didn't know why this was his favorite time, but he did know it made patrol the easiest by avoiding the heat of the day. More demons were active by dark and especially at dawn and dusk.

This morning, however, his thoughts were barely focused on his job. The memory of the previous night and his encounter with Khiva came flooding back every few moments, playing itself over in his mind. He was partially in denial of the challenge, refusing to accept that it had actually happened. There was no way he would ever tell Mukuro anything.

"But then you're submitting to Khiva," a nasty voice said in his mind, and he knew that was something he would never do without a worthy fight. But this challenge wasn't a sword duel or a battle of intelligence. Khiva had gotten him in a weak spot, and as the fire demon thought this over he realized Khiva had done it on purpose. He was counting on him to be stubborn and refuse to reveal anything, therefor losing without an attempt.

Angrily Hiei weighed his options. He could keep his silence and get used to bowing to the ferret demon. No, that would never do. He could fake an attempt at least, and lose with Khiva thinking he had put up a fight. But his pride would never let him live that one down, just like it was making him accept this challenge. But that only left one alternative; play for real and pray that he wasn't rejected. Or…this thought reassured Hiei and he quickened his pace. Or he could play for real but make it seem like he was only faking. Mukuro would be less suspicious this way and maybe even accept him anyway. Unless she tapped his thoughts, the fire demon realized sadly, and he slowed to a halt.

He usually considered himself smarter than this, at least smart enough to fool a ferret. But no, he was trapped and out of ideas. "I'm sure Khiva took great pleasure in spinning this plan," he muttered darkly.

"What plan would that be Hiei?"


Back in the palace, Khiva was extremely pleased with himself. He had thought through every angle of his plan until he was sure there weren't any loopholes. Hiei would have no choice but to accept his defeat; he would never admit anything to Mukuro. Truth be told, Khiva had truly made a guess about the fire demon's feelings based on the evidence he had gathered, but the fact that Hiei had accepted the challenge was enough to confirm his suspicions.

Practically skipping down the hallway, he ignored the dark looks from the guards and stopped in front of a younger demon, which leaned away from him as though he had a contagious disease. Smirking, Khiva reached out and slid the demon's saber from its loop on his belt. With an expert hand he twirled it in a circle in front of the young demon's eyes before he tossed it in the air and caught the end, offering the hilt back to its true wielder. Seeing the wide-eyed look his stunt had achieved, Khiva decided he had made an impression and made his request.

"I've come to see Lord Mukuro," he said politely, giving the demon a small bow. Instead of hurrying to see to his request he stood petrified in his place, watching the ferret warily.

"Lord Mukuro isn't here," he said finally, and Khiva's smile faltered for a moment. "She said also to tell you that she has no interest in your romantic endeavor and to try for someone not so far out of your league." As he said these last words he trembled, because Khiva looked livid.

"Out of my league is she?" Khiva murmured softly, talking more to himself than the other demon. "We'll see about that won't we?"


"What plan would that be Hiei?" Mukuro asked again, because the fire demon had frozen when she appeared from the last of the dawn's shadows. The fire demon's look was humoring her, because she knew perfectly well what plan he had been referring to, and seeing the mortified look on Hiei's face was enough to confirm anyone's suspicions. She really wondered if Hiei would crack under Khiva's provocation and finally come straight with her. She was testing him.

Hiei swallowed heavily and tried to look his lord in the eyes. She seemed to notice his nervousness and also seemed to find it funny. This angered the fire demon and he glared at her. She had no idea what was going through his mind.

"I'll pretend I never asked," Mukuro said, much to Hiei's relief and sudden suspicion. The lord he knew would have never abandoned such a question. "I take it your patrol is going smoothly then Hiei?"

"Surprisingly enough," he answered, still trying to recover from the abrupt question from a moment before. "But then, since when have you paid attention to what I do on patrol? I think you have business in the palace," he added, suddenly feeling a distant surge in Khiva's energy. "It seems someone's not happy that you decided to take the morning off."

"Not many things that I do please Khiva," Mukuro said softly, feeling the energy as well. "That's one of the reasons he has the position he does now. No matter what I did, it wasn't good enough for him with the knowledge he thought he had of war and tactics. His ideas were good," Mukuro said, seeing the smug gleam in Hiei's eyes, "but he forgot to consider the factors of dealing with demon lords."

"Eventually we had a feud and I banished him from the palace. For a year I disregarded him and ruled as I saw fit, which obviously was for the better." Hiei couldn't help but smirk at this, seeing that she was right. "It wasn't long before I summoned you that he returned to the territory, bringing news of Raizen's rapid decline in health. Apparently he had served that year in Raizen's service, and seeing that his lord would soon be no more he returned to the territory he had pledged allegiance to originally. It goes without saying that I accepted him back into my service, and for a long time it seemed he would be a hero for what he had done."

"But then the war never happened," Hiei supplied. "So instead of becoming a big-shot he dropped to the level of a common soldier." Mukuro nodded. "I bet he hated that."

"He did," she said, taking a seat against the trunk of a large tree. After a half-second's hesitation Hiei sat down next to her, careful not to get too close. "He loathed me quite outwardly for a long while after that. Before all of this, though, you were destroying demon after demon in my dungeons, and growing as a threat to the last chance Khiva had to gain power."

Hiei nodded, knowing all of this already. This was what had led to the formation of his rivalry with the ferret. "I doubt many realized it at the time-even I had my doubts- but Khiva seemed to sense your potential from the beginning and that you would eventually become a very influential demon in the palace and the war. He saw you as a threat to his ambitions and decided to play it drastic."

"That fight you interrupted," Hiei murmured, and Mukuro nodded. "Personally I wish you had just let me kill him. It would have been so much easier." And have kept me from being screwed like this, he thought angrily.

"I probably should have," Mukuro agreed, "but at the time it didn't seem like the best thing to do. I decided to give him a final chance to recover himself. He seemed to sense his time was limited and immediately afterward had a change of weather. Every decision I made was perfect by him, something he said he 'couldn't have done better'."

Hiei snorted. That sounded pretty desperate to him. As though sensing his thoughts Mukuro chuckled.

"Yes, I thought he was trying a bit too hard myself. And so the tournament came and went, and gradually his new face did too. Apparently what you did in our fight had pressed some hidden button in his personality that totally reverted him to his old self." For a moment she fell silent, and Hiei wondered whether he dared inquire further. "He tried to talk me out of extending the invitation for you to stay at the palace," she said quietly. "There were a million different reasons why you weren't the right demon for the position. I don't remember most of them to be honest, they were that insubstantial."

"Needless to say, you overrode him."

"Naturally," Mukuro replied with a glance at the fire demon. "And I must say, I'm glad I did." As thought not to give Hiei the wrong idea she added, "Can you imagine what would have happened if I allowed him your position?"

Hiei shuddered, but he couldn't help but get the feeling she had let something slip that hadn't been meant to come out. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and felt his stomach twinge. Would this be the situation they would be in when he finally came out and told her? Whoa, since when had that an ironclad idea anyway? He was still debating on whether or not he would tell her at all. But something in his heart seemed to label that as a lie, and he couldn't deny it.

"You know," Mukuro murmured, "this is all very ironic really. I suppose he never told you…well of course he wouldn't, but…nonetheless…it was Khiva who gave that necklace to me." She reached up and held the tear for a moment in her fingertips before looking up to meet Hiei's open stare. "You never knew what became of it before I returned it did you?"

The fire demon shook his head, eyes wide with disbelief. Why would Khiva give away something that valuable? The ferret seemed to have a sixth sense for anything that involved treasure and, even if he hadn't known what the jewel was, would have known it was extremely rare and valuable. Maybe he hadn't been exaggerating the previous night when he said he sought Mukuro's affections. Almost instinctively his hand closed over the gem. This changed a few things.


Many of the guards in the palace were extremely anxious, never staying in one spot and moving around in groups. For all the strength and courage they possessed, none of them wanted to catch Khiva in a bad mood. It seemed the news of Mukuro's message had spread quickly and wherever the ferret was, he was always alone. That didn't bother him the slightest; he preferred it actually because he wouldn't be interrupted. He was making a plan.

Anxiously the ferret paced around his spacious chambers, occasionally muttering under his breath and sometimes pausing while he thought. He had to make sure this was fool proof if it was to work the way he planned. He had no room for mistakes this time; it could mean banishment or even his life if he failed.

Exhausted, the ferret demon sank down onto his futon and hid his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes hard enough to make stars spring into them. He was frustrated and confused. How had Mukuro found out about his challenge with Hiei from the night before? Had the fire demon told her? No, there was no way, not when he had been too flustered to even admit it to himself. Maybe one of the guards had overheard. Khiva almost laughed at himself for that one. The guards were all terrified of him, he hadn't seen one of them after his encounter at Mukuro's chambers.

"Try for someone not so out of your league"…

She was out of his league was she? Well, he'd show her. Hopefully, if nothing went wrong, by the time the night was over she would be singing a different tune. With that reassuring thought in his mind the ferret picked up a sword and exited his chambers at a brisk walk. Coming to the outer walkway, he leapt out a window and landed smoothly outside the forest. There wasn't anyone around and he decided it wouldn't hurt to train nearby for once.

Finding a nice open area, he took the sword in his hand and held it ready. Visualizing an imaginary opponent in front of him (he smirked as he thought of Hiei) the ferret began to swing, practicing his quick strokes. Jumping into the trees nearby, he leapt from branch to branch, swiping at passing shadows and the leaves that swirled around him. He spotted a pair of low overhanging branches and swung at those next, cutting them both perfectly into long pieces. These he cut again to make four targets, which he spread around the clearing.

Using his natural speed, he charged across the clearing at his targets and swept his sword through the first one with a minimal effort. The second and third were destroyed as well, and he came at the fourth with a wide swing, spinning his body completely with the momentum of the strike, only to be jarred painfully when his sword caught. The ferret turned and stared at the tip of his blade, which was buried halfway in the target, though it hadn't split it completely. With a curse Khiva wrenched his sword free.

Suddenly realizing the presence of another behind him, he turned on his heel and say Hiei standing just beyond the tree line, watching him with an unreadable expression. Then he shook his head and turned away, an action that infuriated the ferret. Before he knew what he was doing Khiva took his sword like a spear and threw it at Hiei's back, disregarding his own rules of no competition.

Moments from impact Hiei spun around and caught the blade in his bare hand, holding its quivering tip in front of him. He tossed it in the air and caught its handle, feeling how awkward the large hilt felt in his small hand. Vanishing, he appeared next to Khiva and the targets and swung, causing the ferret to dive out of the way. Khiva rolled and stood up, staring at Hiei, who was looking at him with a satisfied smirk. Behind him, the original four targets all had been equally split into eight new ones.

Tossing his sword back to its real owner, Hiei vanished again and appeared outside the forest, and in a singe jump landed in a palace window. Khiva watched him go with a look of pure hatred before he took his sword and stabbed it forcefully into the ground.

Hiei smirked as he walked the familiar path to his chambers. He would always prize the look on the ferret's face when he'd cut all his targets, even the one that Khiva had missed. He couldn't be blamed; it was like the ferret had said himself: "The better man always wins." Chuckling under his breath, the fire demon passed through his door and sat down on his futon.

His elated mood passed quickly as the memory of what Mukuro had told him sank in, and Hiei scowled. He wondered briefly where Khiva had gotten his tear gem, but mostly he pondered why he would give it to Mukuro. That had obviously been after she had brought him into her service. Would it have been to get on her good side? He didn't put that past the ferret to try and sweeten up an employer. He must obviously not have known that Mukuro couldn't be bribed.

Taking his sword from his belt the fire demon lay back and rested his head on his folded arms. Staring up at the blank ceiling, the candlelight playing over him, Hiei's thoughts switched to his present situation. He had passed up a perfect opportunity to talk to the lord that morning. They had talked well until noon, and had just sat in each other's company for a while after that. Hiei sighed. He had always played to be emotionless and it had fooled most of the demons he had ever met; the two that he hadn't had been Kurama and Mukuro.

He had to make a decision. He was going to tell her and nothing would keep him from that. Okay, the fire demon thought, sooner is probably better than later. He would have to get her alone. That shouldn't be too hard. If nothing else he could always visit her in her chambers; no one would dare listen to them there. Okay, that was that. He would meet her in her chambers that night and tell her everything. It was only after he got a straight answer that he would mention Khiva's challenge.

Nervously the fire demon lay on his futon and watched the shadows on the roof above him, trying to ignore the butterflies that had settled in his stomach and pass the afternoon.