I don't own YYH, nor do I own the Borg, or Seven of Nine. Would that I could, but I can't, so I don't. They belong to their respective creators. Pyro and all other OC's and the plot are mine, and mine alone, even though my boyfriend is very mad at me for the chick fight in the previous chapter and hiei's response to it. It will all work out. (he's never gonna read this story at this point...)

LostCause6661: ily sweetie. I kind of lol'd at mukuro's interruption while I was writing it, all three times.

Kagome141414: yay! Thank you! Yes, hiei's such a sweet little teme now. (teme means bastard, learned that in a fanfic)

wolvesrain17: she's not defeated, just down. I can't say any more, or I'll give away the chapter.

"If you didn't want me to interrupt, you should have killed me first."

I glared at the fallen demon. Her twitching had stopped, and she was struggling to her feet. "Seriously, you still don't get it?" I growled.

"No. Explain it to me little girl." Mukuro taunted.

"You lost. Stay down." I ended my statement with a feline hiss.

"Onna, walk away. I do not need you to fight for your position any more." Hiei tugged at my arm.

"Oh, but I need to continue this fight. I'm going to kill the little bitch." Mukuro growled and started to power up again.

Hiei stood between us like a human shield. "You cannot kill her. Equal mating."

Mukuro continued to power up. "I noticed. Any demon in this country would have noticed that mating."

"Look, I'm done fighting you. We fought, I won, end of story." I sighed and moved backward with my mate. He was backing into me to get his point across that the situation was very bad.

Hiei kept backing into me and inching us away from the angry demon lord. "If you cannot see reason, I will be forced to take over the territory."

Mukuro advanced on us with a murderous look in her eyes. "You will do no such thing. You'll be dead along with your kitty."

I cursed under my breath. I held on to Hiei's cloak and backed up a little faster. Not good.

"You're not as strong as you were when we met. We're still young, and will grow in power. You have been in a steady decline." Hiei said in an even tone. I knew better though.

"I'm still strong enough to take out an upstart little bitch." Mukuro growled.

I started projecting calming emotions. Maybe, just maybe she wouldn't be guarded for my brand of psychic abilities.

Hiei flashed me a look. 'I hope you know what you are doing.'

'Not really, but I'll figure something out as I go.' I hope.

The intensity of the crazy in Mukuro's eyes dimmed. "Get out of my head."

"I'm not in your head. I don't want to be in your head. You're more psycho than I care to be." I shot back. I kept throwing calming thoughts into the area.

The crazy in her eyes dialed back up to Norman Bates levels. "So that's how you stole my intended."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't steal him. You threw him out."

"It was one fight." She protested. She stopped dead in her tracks and got a childish, petulant look on her face.

"One fight that week. The month before you kicked me out we fought almost every day, more than once a day." Hiei pointed out.

"Gods, that had to suck. Too much negativity." I patted my oni-san's shoulder.

"We did not." she crossed her arms.

Hiei snorted. "Right, you just screamed and threw things for the hell of it."

I threw my arms around Hiei and hugged him from behind. "My poor dragon. No wonder you were such a dick at first."

Hiei patted my arms where they crossed over his chest. "Its done now, Mukuro. You can't kill one without killing the other, and I doubt you'd risk a war with Tourin and Ganderra for killing two demons dear to high ranking officials in those territories. Not to mention risking the wrath of the king for starting it."

"A war? Over the likes of you? That's rich." Mukuro laughed. "Kurama can't even stand the sight of the woman."

"I can stand the sight of her a lot better than I can stand the sight of you right now." Kurama's irritated voice rang through the clearing.

"Kurama, this is our fight." Hiei growled.

"Hush, oni-san. He is making our point." I hissed in his ear.

"The fox does not rule Ganderra. And I do not see the mazoku anywhere." Mukuro taunted. "Your point is not made."

Kurama chuckled. "If the point is that Alaric will be wiped from the face of demon world in the event this fight ends badly, then, yes, it is a valid point." the fox turned to fix me in his calm gaze. "Thistle, please do hurry up and end this. Dinner shall be very cold as it is."

I grinned. At least someone believed in me. "Who cooked?"

"Yukina."

"Damn. Bitch made me late for my favourite chef." I glared at the borg-like female. Her face reflected the confusion she was wrapped in.

"I refuse to allow this fight." Hiei moved as I did, keeping his body between me and his boss.

"Hiei, you know as well as I do that fights between women are not up to their mate." I sighed. "You can't even give the call on if it will be to the death, which I assume Mukuro is aiming for."

Hiei spun to face me. "I forbid this fight! She is not the low-level street trash you are used to. Even Eoghan was weak comparatively."

I crossed my arms and glared. "You forget how long I have been fighting demons. And how many centuries' worth of fights I have stored in my twisted little brain." 'And you know my shields can keep anything where I want it.'

"I know that. I forbid the fight for my own reasons." Hiei reached out and brushed a stray hair out of my face. 'First and foremost is that I spent almost a year keeping you mostly in one piece. I can't fail now that you're a demon.'

I laughed. Threw my head back and cackled like the stereotype of the witch I was. 'You don't want to rule yet.'

Kurama yelled out a warning. Hiei and I dove in opposite directions just in time to evade a pair of throwing knives.

"Are you two done bickering yet?" Mukuro asked. She sounded annoyed. Good.

I stood and grinned my most evil grin at her. "Are you really that ready to die?"

She threw another knife at me. I caught it and sent it back at her. It hit her non-borg shoulder, and sunk to the hilt.

"Pyro, stop. You can't do this." Hiei grabbed my arm before I could advance on the bitch.

I didn't turn. "Hiei, she threatened your life. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to eliminate the threat."

"I know. I'm having the same problem. But you shouldn't." He sighed and dropped his hand.

"Right, you're the heir to her throne. Go ahead honey, you let me beat the crap out of her, and you get the kill shot." I chuckled at my own knowledge of demon customs.

Hiei rolled his eyes at me. "Onna, really?"

I caught another of Mukuro's throwing knives without looking. "Yes, Oni-san, really."

"Living with a human has made you weak, Hiei." Mukuro taunted.

Hiei had his katana through her throat in half a blink. "Never call me weak."

Mukuro's eyes were wide in shock. She made a strangled sound.

Hiei withdrew his sword and cut off her head.

Yusuke stumbled to a stop too late for the fight. "Dammit, I miss all the best fights around here!" He clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Well done kitty."

I glared at the zombie. "Ow, mating mark."

He backed up with his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "My bad."

Kurama put his hand on Hiei's shoulder. "You know you have to go back now."

Hiei growled a little. "The mating is equal, fox. Remove your hand."

Kurama chuckled, but did as he was asked.

"Wow, mated and royalty in less than twenty minutes. And moving again, I assume from Kurama's remark." I giggled and moved to stand beside Hiei.

Hiei slipped his arm around my waist. "Mukuro is dead, I have to go take my place as successor, or the territory will slip into complete chaos, and the king will be very displeased."

"Who is the king now? I missed the last few tournaments." Yusuke asked.

"Enki, again. He declined to fight for two tournaments, lost one, and won the last. He says he will not fight the tournament again." Hiei said.

"Cool. Well, lets go get your stuff, you've got a territory to rule." Yusuke started back toward the temple.

"Kurama?" I caught the fox demon's arm before he could follow the zombie.

"Yes, lady?" He looked down and to the right.

"First off, stop that. I'm always gonna be the same Thistle. Second, help me create something to deliver the body in?" I said, giving the kitsune's arm a shake.

"I was giving you the honour due you as royalty." Kurama smiled at me and met my eyes. "But I will refrain if you ask."

I rolled my eyes and smacked the air in front of his nose.

I found myself once again saying goodbye to the people I'd spent nearly a year living and fighting with. But only Yukina and Kuwabara were outside to see us off.

"Kieko is refusing to say goodbye to you again. Yusuke is trying to get her to see reason." Yukina said with one of her musical giggles.

"Somebody oughta warn Urameshi that you can't talk sense into a woman in that kind of state. She'll get over it on her own." Kuwabara added.

That earned him a light backhand slap from me. It still knocked him down, but at least I didn't break anything.

"Onna, if you break him, my sister will be pissed at you." Hiei's chuckle stopped me from the flood of apologies that was about to flood out of my mouth.

"Eh, you'd like that." I gave my mate a glare. It still felt wierdly awesome to call him that. "You, carrot top. Take care of my sister in law, wouldja?"

"Sister, actually." Yukina coughed slightly.

"Um, what?" Great, shock still left me less than eloquent.

"Well, since it was an equal mating, you are quite literally half of my brother, so I am now your sister." Yukina explained with a smile that could light a whole city.

"Awesome." I met her smile with one of my own. "I kind of missed having sisters."

The little ice demon hugged me tight. "You keep my brother sane, okay?"

I hugged her back. "Kina, I meant it the last time we parted, no worries."

Yusuke walked out the door. "She said she won't come out because she'll cry. I will never understand that woman." He shook his head and moved to the small pile of boxes that represented my entire human existence.

Kurama showed up with the vine body bag we'd created. Hiei and I moved to take it from him. He merely bowed his head and backed away.

The portal glowed, rather than popped. Kurama and Yusuke fell into step behind Hiei and I, carrying the boxes. I had the sinking feeling that we were about to run into something rather unpleasant.

Oooooo, foreboding. The story doesn't end yet my dears. We gotta get the new royals situated, don't we? And pyro, the lovely flighty dear, has yet to throw one of her fits about being a demon. :-)

sorry about the lateness. We've been rearranging rooms here, and I've been in a freaking LOT of pain.