As Yusuke had predicted, Haukushin was there to welcome them into Demon World, and when they reached the castle where Raizen was enthroned and wasting away, a great rumbling sounded out.

"What's that? Thunder?" Yusuke asked.

"It is King Raizen's stomach. It growls at each meal time like clockwork. Even Mukuro and Yomi hear it and use it to mark the passing of time," Haukushin answered.

Yusuke and Hiei shared a small smirk.

"This could be easier than we thought Detective," Hiei said.

"I don't mean to be rude, but we were not expecting you to bring companions," Haukushin said, looking between Hiei and Puu.

"Tough. Where I go, Puu goes, and Hiei's interested in getting stronger, and wasn't interested in taking baby-steps with Yomi or Mukuro," Yusuke answered with a frown.

"Very well," Haukushi said, bowing slightly. "Through this door is the way to King Raizen's throne room. You alone are permitted to see him."

"Uh huh," Yusuke said. "Whatever. If there's one thing I know, it's that Hiei will always be just fine," he declared, then grabbed the large bag Puu had been carrying and headed up the stairs.

When he got to the top, Yusuke headed for the only doors he could see, calling "Knock, knock!" as he pushed them open.

What he saw was exactly as he remembered from when Raizen's voice had echoed in his head before taking him over. It was unnerving.

"Welcome, my son," Raizen said. His masses of white hair flowed around him like Yusuke's own darker hair did, as he had followed Kagome's instructions and refrained from cutting it, much as he wanted to. Raizen's eyes though were very different to Yusuke's, and though muscled he was also clearly emaciated. A few tattoos were present, and Yusuke wondered if that style of armour was just popular with demons, as he could remember Jin and the other shinobi from the Dark Tournament wearing similar, as well as a few of the other demons who'd been there.

"What's the matter?" Raizen asked with a chuckle. "You too big and cool to give your old man a hug?"

"You're not my dad, now tell me, why did you have to get involved? When I was fighting Sensui, what did you do?" Yusuke demanded, forgetting for a moment about the bag he'd brought up and just wanting answers.

Raizen chuckled again, but didn't say anything.

"Tell me, or I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Raizen brought up a clawed hand and flicked it at Yusuke. The result was a cut to Yusuke's torso, one he couldn't have blocked and that hurt like nothing else before it had, not to mention sent him flying backwards through the room.

Raizen chuckled again. "That's why I did it. For your own good, you ungrateful bastard," he said fondly. "That human would have killed you. You may have inherited my genes, but you haven't the slightest idea what to do with them, and it's a shame to waste them on a weakling like you!"

That comment, as was usual when anybody declared him weak, made Yusuke very mad. He charged.

"I'll waste you!" he yelled, throwing a more than descent right hook.

It didn't work out for him though, and Raizen had him screaming in pain fairly quickly, throwing him against the wall rather than spilling any more blood.

"Had enough boy? See how your feeble skills pale in companion to mine? Or was my lesson too dense for you?"

Yusuke spit out some blood, scowling. "The only thing I see is an over confident dead man," he answered.

"I'll make a deal. If you can move me from my throne, I'll more than gladly give it to you son, along with my life," Raizen said.

Yusuke wanted to so bad, but he knew Kagome would kick his butt six ways to Monday if he actually took Raizen up on any of his offer. Still, that didn't stop him from bringing up his spirit gun and firing it as he yelled out "No deal!"

"Well, not sitting so pretty now," Yusuke said when the dust from the rubble cleared, revealing Raizen standing, and a rather large hole where the throne – and the wall behind it – had once been.

Raizen just smirked and walked up to where Yusuke still was on the floor where he had landed after Raizen's initial beating.

"Ha. You hear, but you don't listen, child," he said, then kneeling down to look Yusuke in the eye, he said, with some measure of vindication, "You moved the throne, not me. A tedious technicality, to be sure, but we are men of honour. Don't you worry though, we'll get your prize yet. As long as my body continues to shrink at this pace, I'll no doubt be dead within the span of a year," Raizen explained. As if to emphasise his point, his stomach made a low gurgling sound and pulled in a little more.

"Right, the low human diet has been doing wonders for you," Yusuke said. "Actually that reminds me, when one of my friends heard about it she forced me to do some cooking for you, see if you might try something."

Raizen's face displayed surprise.

"In that bag there," Yusuke continued, jerking his chin at the bag he had brought up with him, "I got all kinds of weird foods she said you might be able to stomach, and should help you get your strength back up. None of the ingredients are actually human, but they've got all the same stuff on a chemical level, apparently."

"What sort of friends do you have son?" Raizen asked, not moving towards the bag, though his eyes were fixed on it. "And what could the food possibly be that I might eat it?"

"She's a priestess, actually," Yusuke answered. "Name of Kagome Higurashi. As for the food, there are things like black pudding, blood pudding, haggis, five-meats pie, some jellies that were, honestly, really gross to make, and some kind of pasta made from the marrow of a few different animal's bones. For starters," the boy said. "All of them are recipes that humans came up with, so you're guaranteed no human went into the making of them, unless some of my hair ended up in there while I was cooking, which considering how much more of it there is than I'm used to, is possible."

Raizen stood and went over to the bag, opening it and pulling out a long, dark thing that had been tied at both ends.

"A priestess, concerned for the health of an old and dying demon," Raizen said, "and in an age where real priestesses are almost extinct. Why would she do something like this?"

"Because she's got a wicked sense of humour," Yusuke answered, smirking. "And a plan you're not gonna believe, but will probably love."

"Tell me," Raizen said, sitting in front of his heir and biting into the thing he held, his eyes closing a moment in wonder at the taste. It was incredible. He couldn't remember humans tasting that good, and he relished in the first thing he had eaten in a thousand years.

While he watched his ancestor eat, Yusuke explained Kagome's 'Demon Lord Gamble' trick.

By the time Raizen had finished the chosen item of food, he was wincing in pain at his stomach's reaction to finally having anything in it, something Yusuke quickly assured him Kagome had predicted would happen, before he continued his explanation. Raizen didn't reach for any more food, but was laughing in delight at the plan the unknown female had concocted, and Hiei and Puu were invited up.

After that, Raizen ordered the training of his son, spirit beast, and companion to begin immediately, while he took some time to recover from having something in his stomach for the first time in so long. He would have to limit himself so that his stomach continued to sound, but he seemed unable to take in too much at once anyway. Besides, they didn't want Yomi and Mukuro to find out about the scheme so early in the game.

~oOo~

"You are Kurama, the one that Yomi wanted," Mukuro said, her one visible eye fixed on the red haired human who had come to her gate. "What are you doing here? Have you come as a spy?"

Kurama chuckled dryly. "Hardly," he answered. "Yomi requested my presence, but I have no interest in joining him. I knew him when he was still weak, and didn't like him then any better. I had thought he was dead."

"So you are not a spy, but I still have no idea what you are doing here."

"You sent a request to one of my allies to join you, did you not?" Kurama asked politely. "Hiei shared your message with me, and we had a slight disagreement. Hiei had no interest in allying himself with someone who, as he put it, was only equal in strength to someone who was dying. I, on the other hand, saw no point in aligning myself with someone who won't be alive much longer, even if our regard for humans is so similar."

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?"

"My interests are in Human World, Lord Mukuro, but I know perfectly well that anything that happens here will have an effect on my loved ones there, so I came to offer my services to the one I believed was most likely to come out on top in the war that is so likely to follow Raizen's death," Kurama answered.

"Loved ones?" Mukuro asked.

"My human mother, as well as my fiancé and her family, are all very dear to me," Kurama said.

"And yet you are here, rather than there," Mukuro observed.

"When my fiancé learned of what was happening, she told me I had to go, knowing that I would regret if I didn't have a hand in shaping the future of Demon World in some way."

Mukuro nodded, and seemed to accept the story.

"Very well. I'll put your skills to the test, and see how you hold up. I may indeed have a use for you."

"I ask only to be called Hiei whilst I am here, so that Yomi does not know of my presence," Kurama said softly as he bowed.

"Granted."

~oOo~

Shippo walked through the forested outskirts of Yomi's city-like territory, disguised as Kurama and with a full briefing of the goat demon calmly floating through his mind. When he was young, Shippo had learned Kurama's attacks, as well as creating his own from the same theory. A master of illusions had to be diverse after all. An illusion could be ruined by walking differently, having the wrong scent, most certainly by choosing a different attack than the ones Kurama would default to use.

He looked up sharply when he felt three rather weak demon energies descending upon him fast, and he dodged quickly before using rose vines to throw the first one into a tree, regaining a perfect composure and stillness easily as he waited for the other two to charge, hand resting by his neck to withdraw the rose whip he had seen Kurama use so many times in their training, chopping up the fighters into pieces, not even flinching as their pieces flew past him, only lowering his weapon when he felt a strong energy. Despite its strength, it was just as Kurama had described it to him.

"Yomi, was all that necessary?" Shippo asked in Kurama's voice.

"Hello Kurama," Yomi answered, stepping forward.

Shippo grinned inwardly, pleased with another illusion, another trick, performed perfectly.

"It's been far too long since I've seen you," the goat demon said.

"I don't appreciate the pun," Shippo snapped slightly, playing the part of Kurama to his very best, "and what sort of welcome is that? I came all this way to help you, not to be attacked."

"Don't be cross," Yomi soothed arrogantly. "I wasn't entirely sure it was you. Your energy feels so very different than it did before."

Shippo had worked hard to get his energy to feel, outwardly, exactly like Kurama's did now, though Kurama himself had pointed out that he was in a human body now, when Yomi had known him only as a pure demon, and this would allow for the change in energies. That he was still a fox would be able to be felt, and that would probably be enough as long as Shippo suppressed the flame element of his energy. Shippo had refused to take the chance.

"I have to be sure I'm not advised by the wrong man," Yomi stated.

"So you sent them to identify me. That's playing it very cautious Yomi, a trait you never had when I knew you," Shippo said, though he thought to himself with glee that even Yomi's caution didn't allow for such a perfect trickster as himself. Shippo was also very cautious to not let any of his real emotions into his scent. He didn't know if Yomi's sense of smell had improved on what Kurama remembered him having as well.

"You're not the only one who's gone through changes," Yomi said, turning. "I can't afford to be reckless now. Mukuro and Raizen have had centuries to perfect the keeping of power. Now that I have an equal share, they'll take any chance to dethrone me."

"A thousand years is a long time," Shippo said, Kurama's softest, most sympathetic tone issuing from his lips.

"For some things it's not. Forgive the attack, but if you were as strong as I'd heard you'd become, it wouldn't have been a threat," Yomi said, once again his arrogance laced in his tone as though he had done something to deserve it.

Shippo almost wished that Sesshoumaru was still alive, just to show Yomi what really made a demon deserve such self-confidence. Or better yet, Inu no Taisho, who had been Sesshoumaru's father and Shippo had only heard stories of. The great dog demon, Lord of the West, master of the three swords of Earth, Heaven, and Hell – only the first two of which still existed, thank Inari.

Yomi wasn't done talking yet, though his arrogance had abruptly changed to earnestness. "And it wasn't. I believe in your power," he said, turning around to face Shippo. "Kurama, please give me your trust."

Shippo was silent, as he knew Kurama would be, weighing the pros and cons of the decision, and the right way to answer such a thing. Of course, he had been given an answer to such a plea, so didn't need to think of one.

"Lord Yomi!" a new voice called, preventing Shippo from being able to actually give the answer, which he found rather annoying.

"Yes Yuda."

"It's time for the unification conference Lord," the small demon said, walking up to them, reminding Shippo of Jaken for no reason that was physical except for, perhaps, stature. The tall, arrogant lord, and the short, pandering, ugly imp of a demon. "The council has gathered."

"Excuse me," Yomi said to Shippo, walking off, but stopping as he drew level with the demon Shippo could barely help but think of as this goat's serf. "Actually Yuda, I have a thought. I want Kurama to attend today's meeting. Show him the way."

"That little thing?" Yuda demanded, very like Jaken, dripping with distaste for the taller figure he had no reason to respect – yet. "Well I don't pick up any special demon energy coming out of him," Yusa said snobbishly. "In fact, he smalls half-human. Are you sure you want him gracing our table?"

Spending that extra time to get the scent absolutely perfect had been worth it.

"You heard what I said," Yomi stated, walking off.

Shippo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, it was just like a Sesshoumaru and Jaken relationship between those two, though he didn't believe for an instant that either of them were worthy opponents for the eldest son of the famous dog demon.

"Hmph, well, come on then," Yuda grumbled.

Shippo followed. He had successfully been accepted into Yomi's inner circle. Of course, that wouldn't necessarily make him popular with the rest of Yomi's council, and he intended to make himself deeply unpopular with at least one of them.

~oOo~

After the meeting, Yomi talked of what Shippo had mentioned in the meeting, and thanked Kagome that they had prepared well enough that Yomi believed Hiei to be working with Mukuro, rather than the real Kurama.

When, after presenting a rather disgusting creature to him and killing it, Yomi spoke of Kurama's mother being on a plane, and knowing so much of Kurama's life, Shippo reacted as though it was Kagome and the Higurashi family that Yomi spoke of, though he was also glad that the arrogant demon didn't seem to know about Kagome.

He didn't panic though. He was presenting an illusion, and it would not falter. He had to tell Kagome that Yomi knew of Shiori without Yomi finding out, and getting the woman out of danger, off Yomi's radar altogether if they could manage it. His mind clicked. The cell phone!

"Join me Kurama, help me unify them," Yomi said. It was almost an invitation or offer, but really, it was a threat. Shippo was glad that Kurama wasn't the one who had to hear it.

For now, he returned to the quarters he had been given. He had a text message to send, since talking at all within the castle seemed like a bad idea.

~oOo~