They sat in a circle of three, clustered around one edge of Shigure's kitchen table as three steaming mugs of dark tea sat untouched near the center.

Outside, the storm continued on, lightened now to a strangle drizzle that blew like snow in a fierce autumn wind. The doors were locked, the lights were off, and for all intents and purposes the hut looked abandoned... but deep below, Kurama, Shigure, and Mukuro could be found hard at work on a mystery that seemed to only grow more twisted with time.

"We start at the beginning." Kurama spoke up first, "Since I feel that the center of this tyranny can be found with Shimo and Hiei's first interaction. But before I begin, I must ask. Shigure, have you ever heard of a man named Shimo? He would have been very pale skinned, with red eyes and aqua hair."

"No." Shigure shook his head. "I have not."

"I feared as much." Kurama sighed, but continued on, "Then we must start with square one. We met with Shimo for the first time as a group, and Hiei was irate. Shimo seemed... almost delighted, in a bizarrely non emotional way. When he pushed Hiei too far, Hiei snapped and laid hands on him. Shimo did not seem to react for the most part, and when Hiei threw him onto the floor, Hiei attempted to penetrate Shimo's mind with the jagan. This is where things get... hairy." Kurama paused, "I did not know until recently all that had occurred in this moment. I ventured to Spirit World only a day ago, and by using King Koenma's advanced technology I was able to uncover a verbal message that was indiscernible to the human ear. A woman screaming. Pleading." Kurama paused, raising a fiery eyebrow at this.

"A woman." Shigure repeated, "Screaming?"

"Screaming." Kurama agreed, his tone heavy with meaning. "Begging."

Shigure leaned back in his chair, rubbing his jaw.

"And... You didn't hear this at the time?" Shigure continued.

"No." Kurama shook his head, "I heard nothing. This made me wonder if Shimo's attack on Hiei was not a physical one but a mental one. To which I ask you... about mental attacks on jagans."

"Well, there I'm more knowledgeable." Shigure snorted. " To understand the psychic attack on a jagan, you must understand how a jagan works as a base rule. It's implanted in the frontal lobe of the brain, which controls much of the emotional range and personality complex. I slit a section of the brain apart, and the stem of the jagan is then linked to the top of the spinal column for nerve activity and blood flow. The jagan's psychic powers come not from the jagan, but from the split frontal lobe of the brain... Understand me, Kurama. The jagan is not alive. It's not a living thing. It's just a conductor for psychic energy. Nothing more." Shigure paused. "... You ever heard Hiei mention the jagan talking to him?"

"Certainly not." Kurama sneered. "Hiei does not hear voices."

"He does." Mukuro interjected, biting her lip. Kurama's emerald eyes now fixed on her, and she could tell that he did not believe her. "Hiei's told me that he hears the jagan's voice."

"Well he's mistaken." Shigure grumbled, crossing his arms, "The jagan does not have a voice nor a conscience. What Hiei's hearing is himself. Maybe... a split personality if you will. That's the problem with splitting the frontal lobe of the brain." Shigure cocked a smile, "All sorts of emotional and mental hijinks."

"It explains a lot." Kurama snorted, "Certainly his bad attitude."

"HA!" Shigure laughed aloud at this, "No I'm afraid he's always had that Kurama. Better luck next time."

"So how does one attack the jagan." Kurama continued on, eager to know more. "If it's just a conductor, then would Shimo have to throw a psychic... I don't know..."

Kurama fell silent, irritated, "This is where I am confused! I don't know how Shimo attacked him!"

"After the attack what did Hiei do?" Shigure pressed. "How did he react."

"He stormed out the front door, clutching his jagan." Kurama explained. "I followed and waited for him to re appear. When he did we conversed, and I asked him what he had seen. He resisted my help." Kurama heaved a sigh at the memory, "He told me that he didn't know what he'd seen. Fog, black fog and specks of light-"

"Normal." Shigure shrugged. "He'd have seen the same thing if he'd look at a brick. Keep going."

"He sad that Shimo had had memories. But Hiei did not add more. He said instead that... what he'd seen he'd seen before. That the memory was one of his own. That it had even involved him."

"... Shimo reflected Hiei's own memories?" Shigure's eyes narrowed into steely doubt, "That would require immense power to manipulate a jagan in such a way-"

"Allow me to finish." Kurama raised a hand for silence. Shigure paused, waiting for more, "I asked Hiei if it was possible for Shimo to attempted to manipulate the jagan to reflect something already inside. He denied this, and said that there were certain details missing. Things that had always been there before. He said that the people in the memory though him dead until a hundred years ago. He said that they didn't even know his name, but that at one point in time they'd wanted him dead... I tried to ask more, but he became agitated and..." Kurama paused, for he'd caught the look on Mukuro's face. She was staring away from the two men, in awe or perhaps dumbfounded. She was touching her lips, deep in thought as she deduced Kurama's words. Could she know that something that Kurama and Shigure did not?

"Mukuro?" Kurama asked, "Is there something you can shed light on?"

"Please do because I'm lost." Shigure grumbled.

"He did this..." Mukuro whispered, not answering Kurama's question.

She looked down at her chest, where Kurama was surprised to see that Hiei's own hiroseke stone lay. Had he given it to her? Mukuro touched the stone, closing her eyes.

"Mukuro." Kurama insisted, more urgently than before. Her eye snapped open, and she looked back to the men.

"I think I know what Hiei saw." Mukuro murmured, her voice deadly serious.

"Great!" Shigure sneered. "Let's hear it!"

"The other day, when Hiei and I were still traveling to your hut, Hiei began convulsing in almost a seizure like quality. He spoke to me, but his words were confusing at the time. Now... not so much."

"What did he say."

"I saw it all, but I didn't see her. He left her out on purpose to fuck with me. I know he did." Mukuro repeated Hiei's words, and in her mind she could hear Hiei's pained voice. "He also said something else... and that's where I think the greatest clue lies."

"Yes?" Kurama urged.

"You're lucky." Mukuro repeated, "Because he's in a pot."

Shigure and Kurama stared at her, completely lost.

Mukuro looked down at her hands and pursed her lips.

"... Hiei tracked down the man who had enslaved me; who had called me his daughter. He tracked the man down and-"

"And cursed him into a potted plant!" Kurama burst in with elation, "Mukuro! I'm the one who gave him that seed!"

"Hiei brought it to me as a birthday present." Mukuro paused, quick to hide the break in her voice at the tender memory. To other people, such an event would have been macabre and without love... but there was so much love in it that Mukuro did not know how to speak on it without letting her feelings show. Instead she looked away once more.

The act of capturing the man who'd enslaved her, abused her, raped her, and driven her to near insanity (so much so that she'd poured acid upon her skin to save herself)... the act of bringing him to her, so that she could now be the enslaver, the abuser... Hiei had given her the power back over a man who had almost turned her into a monster. Hiei had broken the false memory that for so long had stopped her from seeking revenge herself.

Hiei had unchained her from her past.

And now... she couldn't do the same for him.

"He's in a pot." Mukuro's tone was now bitter. "You're lucky because he's in a pot."

In the silence she continued on.

"You're lucky... because you got revenge on your parents. Because you got to see them again."

No one spoke.

Kurama buried his face in his hands, looking incredibly tired and even morose. He caught Mukuro's eyes, but quickly looked away for all the anger and bitterness that he found there. Mukuro pushed her chair back from the table, rising up and leaving the group.

"Where are you going." Shigure demanded. "We need to figure this out. If we share-"

"When the fuck have we ever shared?!" Mukuro spat, wheeling around with an immense fury! Kurama jumped in his chair, unsuspecting of such a wrathful answer and even Shigure looked slightly worried.

"How dare you presume, you worthless cretin!" Mukuro screamed, lashing out as her energy began to crackle around her with menacing promise, "That I would ever share anything with either of you! You know nothing! Nothing!" Mukuro screamed again, her eyes popping, "We don't share, we don't feel! We don't search for answers in the past!"

Mukuro bit her tongue, the silence ringing about her just as loud as her shouting. She took a deep breath, and Kurama thought he saw a strange sparkle of profound emotion in her one good eye.

"We lie." Mukuro finished, her tone even but bitter, "We lie and we move on. We make what peace we can... with... with who we can."

Mukuro closed her one good eye, and though Kurama could hardly count himself among her friends or those who knew her best, he could swear that she was breaking before them... breaking in the only way that a strong woman could.

For the 'who' implied so very much.

Mukuro left, climbing the stairs till she was out of sight, leaving the two men alone at the kitchen table.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

The storm had become ever more overcast so that the light of day had become the strange somber stillness of twilight. On the ground floor of Shigure's hut, all was quiet and still unlike the strange shouting that had just echoed from below. Mukuro felt oddly... ashamed of herself. In a way that she could not fully understand. She shouldn't have told so much, even if she had only been shouting. She shouldn't have let Kurama nor Shigure know that she was... crippled. Crippled, when it came to Hiei.

Tired, emotionally spent, and needing the bizarre comfort that only Hiei could give, Mukuro found herself standing beside the operating table staring down at his pale form. The sterile overhead light just served to make him look even more far gone, and it broke Mukuro's heart to see him this way. He deserved to be up, alive, vibrant and full of fire. He deserved to be spiteful and snarky, with narrowed eyes and wary distrust of everyone that he met. He deserved to show his emotions in any way that he so damn chose... and so did Mukuro.

Even if that meant shouting.

Mukuro reached up, gently turning off the overhead light so that even more darkness fell in the hut. It was good conditions for a nap and perhaps... perhaps that would be the best solution so far.

Hesitantly, Mukuro lifted herself up onto the operating table, pulling HIei's blanket over them both as she laid her head down next to his own. There was hardly enough room for the pair of them, and Mukuro pulled him close as she wrapped an arm around his waist.

There... just there... with her head upon his chest she felt it dimly beneath.

A heartbeat. Steadfast and constant.

"Tell me what to do." Mukuro whispered, her voice breaking as she closed her eyes so as not to see the cruel world anymore, "Tell me what to do, you mean and surly bastard."

Hiei did not answer.

"You helped me, so why can't I help you?" Mukuro demanded, the pain growing in her tones. "Why can't I help you now? Why can't I give you the strength you gave to me? Why does it always have to be you going out on a limb and being an ass? Why can't I be the one to sacrifice things? Why can't I be the one to hurt? I can take it... I can hurt..." Mukuro felt her face screwing up against her will, "Can you hear me hurting now? ... Can you hear me at all?"

Hiei did not answer.

"I don't want to share." She whispered, bitter and resentful. "If sharing means loosing what we have."

She kept time with Hiei's soft heartbeat.

Outside, the rain continued to fall.

Spite and Malice was perhaps the perfect card game for Shigure and Kurama to play. It had started out with Shigure playing solitaire, yet as the hours passed and Mukuro did not return, it became a game for two so that now they were four rounds in with small trinkets for the winning.

It had been three hours since Mukuro had gone upstairs.

"Glad to see you're alive." Kurama commented, laying down a fresh ace as he finished off another set.

"Boss wouldn't have me dying." Shigure snorted. "If she can get you to work, she'll have you till your nothing but a sack of bones."

"Well... she is a woman of business." Kurama agreed. "I suppose this is the first time that a murderer and his victim have played cards together after the act was committed."

"You didn't murder me." Shigure disagreed, "You killed me in a fight to the death. I'd have killed you too if I had gotten the chance. I almost sawed your face in half."

"I remember." Kurama chuckled, "No hard feelings then?" He laid down a succession of all five cards, plucking up another fresh five from the draw deck with a sauntering smile.

"None." Shigure grinned, even adding a friendly wink, "Now about the problem at hand... I've been thinking."

"Do tell." Kurama murmured, his eyes on the cards but his ears on Shigure.

"Have you ever heard of retrocognition?" Shigure asked.

"... Isn't that the perception of past events?" Kurama asked.

"Shimo could have the ability of retrocognition... but that's just a meager guess. Hiei would hardly be in this state from retrocognition alone."

Kurama paused, setting his cards down and catching Shigure's eye.

"... There is something." Kurama murmured. "I bet you were wondering how I got here so fast."

"I was." Shigure admitted.

"I visited Spirit World yesterday... to do a bit of digging on this Shimo character." Kurama explained. "I used a portal to travel to the very edge of the wood about forty miles from your house."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"And fun." Kurama added with a mischievous smile.

"Touche." Shigure chuckled, "So did you find anything in spirit world."

"That I did." Kurama shrugged off his thick jacket, reaching around to pull out the dirty aged file labeled 'hina'. He passed it to Shigure, who took it at once and opened it to reveal nothing.

"... A file?" Shigure mused, confused. "A blank file?"

"See the name on that file?" Kurama pointed, and Shigure looked, nodding.

"Hina." Shigure repeated.

"Hina is Hiei's mother. Someone took out her file work, and left only this note." Kurama pulled it out of his pocket and passed it to Shigure who took it as well.

"...Died a foolish martyr?" Shigure repeated the note, sneering at the concept. "Who the hell writes something like that?"

"Someone is not a friend." Kurama proposed. "Perhaps the same someone who swiped her file."

"You think foul play?" Shigure offered.

"I do." Kurama nodded wisely. "And I think you do too. Let us be frank with one another. We're both smart men. We both know there is something else at work here."

Shigure nodded solemnly, laying his cards aside. Their appetite for the game was lost.

"Hold on a minute." Shigure murmured, rising up and leaving Kurama to sit alone at the table, "And turn your head the other way, I don't want you seeing where I hide my keys!"

Kurama snorted, but obliged Shigure's request. He didn't have the heart to tell Shigure that a lacking key would hardly keep him from breaking a lock of any sort. There was a scraping metal noise, followed by the sound of several papers being jostled about. Curious, Kurama looked around to see the Shigure had opened a large black filing cabinet full of thick folders. He scanned through them, heading all the way to the very back from which he retrieved an extremely old file that he hoisted out with great effort.

"I didn't take you for a file keeper." Kurama commented as Shigure laid down the enormous dialogue between them both on the table next to Hina's file.

"I'm a doctor. Every surgery I've ever performed is dictated... from introductory analysis to final statement from the patient. This is Hiei's file-" As Kurama reached out to touch the file, Shigure slammed his mighty hand down so that it trapped Kurama from lifting the top up. Kurama slowly lifted his head to stare at Shigure with wary distrust.

"Doctor patient confidentiality." Shigure explained shortly. "Me showing you this file breaks my sacred oath of privacy. I hope you understand what it costs me."

"It doesn't evade me." Kurama assured Shigure, his tone slightly icy. Shigure let go of the file, and Kurama opened the moldy cover.

He was immediately confronted with a black and white photo of a very young Hiei, which was an unpleasant sight. His eyes were much too large for his face, and dirt covered his cheeks while a few twigs stuck out of his overgrown mop of black and white hair. He needed a bath, not to mention a change in his clearly sour attitude. Kurama lifted the photo up to glance along Hiei's health files, most of which were blank with scrawled in updates. Kurama could barely read, and he pulled out his glasses from his upper pocket to get a better look:

"heavily influenced by anger and fear; possible paranoia. Has intense irrational desire to undergo implant but will not give reasons. Reasons are not entirely clear even to him. Very disorganized thinking and speech. Has hard time with keeping train of thought and sentences are only loosely connected when he withdraws. Extreme social isolationism. Cannot tell if isolation is self imposed or the result of a lifelong isolation from parental involvement.

Seems to have feelings of loneliness hidden by severe anger towards intrusion. Fear of others, and possible negative self-esteem.."

The writing became imperceptibly scrawled, and Kurama shook his head with disdain.

"You're wrong." Kurama snorted. "Hiei does not have paranoia."

"Keep reading." Shigure offered, and so Kurama skipped to a section which he could discern:

"Have begun to see the man behind the mask. Often needs lengthy time alone, which he spends mostly looking at the sky to the north. It seems that his motives behind obtaining the implant circle around family. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning at ten. He looks pensive, I worry that his thoughts are not pleasant. He will have to have total and absolute control over his mind if he wants to survive the jagan."

"So you went through with the implant. Obviously." Kurama mused. "What did you find?"

"A shit load." Shigure cursed, "And all of it circled around the two women in Hiei's family."

"His mother and sister." Kurama offered, and Shigure nodded solemnly.

"I know only what I could deduce from memories that the jagan showed me during the operation. I know that his mother was outcasted by her community and that Hiei was taken from her not long after birth."

"But she was able to give him the stone?" Kurama asked.

"I can only gather. He was looking for it after all. Perhaps he found out about it through other means and went looking for it. Maybe he didn't know it existed until-"

"You're wrong."

Their conversation was interrupted by the re appearance of Mukuro, who looked morose and yet... calm. No longer restraining massive anger that only she could sustain. Instead, Mukuro slowly came down the circular stair well, stopping at the base and crossing her arms. Shigure was silent, looking rather nervous at his boss' expression of quiet regret. It seemed that Shigure much preferred Mukuro shouting.

"I know everything." Mukuro began softly, "And your deduction... it's wrong."

"If you know everything, then why don't you say something." Kurama asked. "Why don't you help us? Hiei's life depends upon Shigure's ability to operate."

"Because Hiei showed me. He trusted me, and let me in." Mukuro pursed her lips, "And those memories are a link that we share. A private link."

"Mukuro, helping us will not make these memories any less sacred. Their worth is not valued because of their secrecy." Kurama assured her. "Please... help us. Hiei's life could be forfeit."

Mukuro looked away, staring off instead at a wall full of black and white photographs. Kurama wondered what she was staring at. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Mukuro came back to the table, sitting down and catching a glimpse of the picture of a younger Hiei. She smiled bitterly.

"Hiei's mother... was a rebel." Mukuro began. "She didn't follow the traditional rules set before her by her elders. There were rumors that she left the Hyouga and found a man- that this is the reason Hiei was born at all-"

"I see."

"No, you don't see." Mukuro snapped, a little irritated by Kurama's inability to hush, "Shuttup till I finish."

Kurama, quailed, immediately backed off with raised hands of acknowledged defeat.

"Koorime are a tribe of females." Mukuro continued, still annoyed, "There are no men. Every one hundred years, another female is born to each Koorime and so they populate asexually. When Hiei was born... it was an apocalyptic sign." She waited for Kurama to open his mouth, but as promised Kurama instead kept his lips locked. His emerald eyes, however, were full of a curious fire as if he was thirsty for her knowledge.

"Funny you say that." Shigure began, showing Mukuro Hina's blank file along with the rude note. "This was all Kurama found when he went to investigate Hiei's mother."

"Died a foolish martyr?" Mukuro read, looking worried.

"You yourself just said she was a rebel." Shigure shrugged. "Probably made an enemy or two."

"HIei was taken from her as soon as he was found." Mukuro murmured, "The elders were furious. They called him 'Imiko', the forbidden child. And so he was." Mukuro sighed, "The price to pay was heavy, and though Hina begged for Hiei to be returned to her... the elder refused. Instead, they forced a woman named Rui, Hina's best friend, to throw Hiei from the summit of the Hyouga into the abyss of demon world below. They believed the fall would kill him. They were wrong."

Kurama could no longer keep silent.

"The memory!" Kurama blurted out, "Hiei said that the people in the memory thought he was dead! Perhaps this was the memory of which he spoke!"

"Perhaps." Mukuro shrugged.

"Remember what he said." Shigure added, "That someone had been left out distinctly by Shimo. Someone that had always been there before."

"And we heard a woman screaming." Kurama continued, his tone growing a heightened with anticipation. "What if the someone left out was Hiei's mother!"

Mukuro said nothing, but it seemed that even she was not immune to the great discovery before them.

"Yes... Yes I'm certain of it now!" Kurama urged. "Shimo showed Hiei the memory of his descent into demon world- a private and personal memory." Kurama added respectfully to Mukuro, "And he left out Hiei's mother in order to show Hiei that he also knew the importance of Hina. Mukuro! Do you know where Hina was on that day? What she was doing?"

"She was there." Mukuro answered, "Forced to watch while being restrained by her fellow Koorime sisters. She screamed; pleaded for him to be given back to her. Rui was forced to throw him over but before she did, she secretly tucked the hiroseke stone into his bindings... it would be his only clue to his heritage later on. His most precious possession."

Kurama sat back with a great gust of wind, shaking his head.

"... Well." He huffed. "Now I finally know what Hiei saw. No wonder he was... shaken."

"So now we know." Shigure agreed. "Shimo knows about Hina, knows about her rebellious nature... His reason for being here probably has to do with Hina's actions against her elders."

"And Shimo said that he was from the Hyouga! What if he was sent by someone!"

"Stop."

Shigure and Kurama, once again, were thrown into silence by Mukuro's quiet authority.

"Were you listening at all?" She growled, her annoyance growing once more. "The Hyouga is a tribe full of women. Hiei is the only male. Shimo can't be from the Hyouga. Only females are born to the koorime. He's lying."

Kurama said nothing to this, which surprised Mukuro because the fox seemed to take great pleasure in running his mouth. Instead he narrowed his eyes and allowed his mouth to sag open momentarily.

"Thought, Kurama?" Shigure asked, curious.

Kurama did not answer, and instead rubbed his jaw in silent reflection.

"...Shimo... can't be from the Hyouga. Mukuro is right. There are no males born to the koorime. Not without rebellion which I doubt that another Koorime would do after watching Hina's downfall." Kurama raised his eyebrows sadly, "And yet... I have the distinct feeling that Shimo is from the Hyouga. I just don't know how. He knows about Hina. He knows about Hiei's apocalyptic birth, and how greatly it angered the elders. He knows about Hiei being thrown from the summit. How could he possible know all of this and not be from the Hyouga... and yet... I wonder..." Kurama trailed off, his voice fading into silence.

"Oh for the love of god will you just talk." Mukuro snapped, "You're worse than Hiei!"

Kurama jerked out of his chair, beginning to pace back and forth.

"Lifeless, emotionless!" Kurama was making no sense, "and every time Hiei's name was mentioned he grew more alert, as if he'd been waiting for us to mention Hiei's name- why the only time I ever saw him show emotion was around Hiei. Could it be...? I had once suggested and yet never truly imagined... but it would make sense! And it could be done! The Elders are no doubt ageless, and would have the magic at their disposal! All they would need would be an article of hair or something else personal, and I'm sure that Hina's grave would be the perfect supply... Hiei said none knew he was alive till one hundred years ago, what if! What if!" Kurama wheeled around his eyes wide, "What if Hiei's survival... was discovered by the elders... and now they have sent a doll to do their bidding. To kill Hiei and return Yukina to the Hyouga."

Silence.

Shigure looked mightily impressed, where as Mukuro just looked pale and nervous. As the silence persisted, Kurama pressed on, a malevolent smile growing across his face.

"My friends..." Kurama's green eyes were bright with a spark of intuition, "Mukuro speaks the truth. Shimo cannot be a Koorime. But he can be created by a Koorime and therefore from the Hyouga."

"...Created?" Shigure repeated. "Like a puppet."

"Exactly like a puppet!" Kurama cried, clapping his hands enigmatically. "You've never seen Shimo, but I have! I have seen how he acts, how he approaches situations. He is utterly devoid of life, Shigure. He has no root for emotion, no way of comprehending love, fear, anger, or confusion! All he knows is his mission, that he must find Hiei and destroy him any way that he can... and when a way presented itself-"

"He took it!" Mukuro spoke up, suddenly "Shimo attacked Hiei in the only way that he could... through the jagan!"

"And with insult to injury he used the memory of Hiei's fallen mother- the very woman that the Elders spited with Hiei's outcasting!" Kurama's grin was practically a snarl now. "Yes! Yes I am certain of it now. Shimo is a doll! Yes... Yes!" Kurama cried out. "Shigure, can you ward the jagan from psychic attacks?"

"I can come up with something." Shigure assured Kurama. "Leave it to me. I think I know just the tactic to end the mental assault."

"Good!" Kurama was brimming with fire, "Mukuro! Will you stay with Hiei? Will you make sure no harm befalls him?"

"Ordering me around, Kurama?" Mukuro sneered, "My outlook is my own."

"I'm taking that as a yes." Kurama snapped, "But I have more to ask. Will you bring Hiei back to human world? Will you accompany him to Genkai's temple? In the event of a second attack it would be wise to have someone there whose sole purpose was to keep Hiei safe-"

"Are you out of our damn mind?" Mukuro snapped, rather insulted, "Keep Hiei safe- what do you think he is? A toddler? Hiei can take care of himself. He does not need me there in human world. I am not going to human world. I would rather eat shit than endure the ridiculous squalor that your precious human's find so endearing." Mukuro rolled her one good eye at this, "I will do as I please with who I please. I do not look to you for direction."

Kurama paused, looking put off. He leaned back, reigning in his self control so that his keen desire for action was tucked away into apathetic nonchalance.

"Shame, really." Kurama looked away, instead deciding to gaze at his fingernails for dirt. "That you'd rather not go. I'd have thought you would be... eager. To get revenge."

"Revenge?" Mukuro repeated, narrowing her eyes.

"You can't tell me Hiei's lifeless body didn't stir some type of feeling inside of you. Your little outburst gave more than an indication for your emotional distress. Tell me... wouldn't you like to extract your wrath upon Shimo?"

Mukuro said nothing to this, instead giving Kurama an icy glare.

"Hiei was right." Mukuro sneered, "You're ruthless and say anything to get your way."

"Hiei was right." Kurama agreed. "You'll find foxes have a tendency to bare their teeth when cornered. But you have not answered my question. Do you, or do you not, want revenge on Shimo... for what he's done to Hiei?"

Mukuro was silent once more, and she looked away.

Revenge... what an odd little word.

She'd spent most of her adult life seeking revenge on the very man who'd destroyed her youth. Slaughter, blood, chaos, and screaming... all of it had filled her world from dusk until dawn with no reprieve. There had been little to distinguish one day from the next save for the stack of corpses that slowly grew higher and higher... than the growing smell of dried blood upon her skin. She'd somehow gained respect, adoration even, from a group of followers that became the base of her personal army. It was Shigure who had constructed the basic idea for the military centipede which would become her base and home. Kirin's loyalty, Shigure's brilliance, and Nose' astute ability to snoop out disloyal soldiers had transformed her from a nameless killer into a sordid Queen over a third of demon world...

A queen... something she'd never thought to be.

But there had been no peace waiting for her at the top- something she'd long assumed would be there. There was no happiness in revenge, no pleasure in spilling more blood. It became an endless tirade of death with no true meaning and soon enough... she'd forgotten her true purpose. She'd forgotten life.

But then, he'd appeared, angry and indignant. He'd proved his worth, and yet Mukuro was surprised to find that he was not looking for the next step up. Instead, he was looking for the end; looking for death.

She knew that look of defeat. She wore it often when she was alone.

And so Hiei had achieved his goal, dying on the floor of her basement. Yet even so, he'd submitted to her, happy to share with her his ugly little tale. Even though his story had been utterly horrific at times, full of betrayal and cruelty... it had felt like home. It had felt like a time, long ago, when Mukuro had wandered the woods alone looking for blood to spill with feverish delight. When he'd awoken in her regeneration tank, he'd not been very happy... but he'd not been unhappy either.

And so they'd fallen into their odd little life; not blissful, but not bleak. Not alive, but not dead. Perhaps this was their punishment, their purgatory for all the lives they'd taken in their youth. If this was punishment, Mukuro could not think of a better way to spend it nor a better person to spend it with.

It had taken the lack of Hiei's presence to make her understand just what his presence meant. It meant peace, or the closest thing she could come to. It meant calm, or at least a stillness even in the midst of fighting... most of all, it meant understanding. It meant empathy. It meant friend, and companion. It meant...

Well. She didn't know if it could be called love... but it was close.

"I'll do as I please." Mukuro finally spoke, for she would do exactly as she pleased. She'd earned that right. Little did Kurama know that what she pleased involved Shimo dead, "My path is no concern of yours."

"Then I suppose I will have to deal with Shimo myself. Well-" Kurama snorted, "Yusuke will be overjoyed with our revelation. He's been ready to tear his hair out."

"Then all that's left to do is get to work." Shigure gruffed, closing Hiei's file and stuffing Hina's folder and note inside. "I'll keep these here, just for safety. Whoever swiped her file might come back for more."

"Good." Kurama agreed. "I will depart at once. With luck I will be able to reach the portal to human world in... two weeks." He calculated. Mukuro thought this a rather high goal, but said nothing of it. "Shigure, Mukuro, I cannot thank you for all that you had done for me. This mystery was most aggravating when faced alone. Now that I know the truth, I can set wheels into motion which will end Shimo's silent tyranny. I am in your debt." Kurama bowed to Mukuro, careful to show respect even though he was still disappointed. "Give Hiei my best and tell him all that we have learned."

"I'll see you out." Shigure rose up, polite even in his macabre way. "Mukuro, are you coming?"

Mukuro would rather not look like she followed the orders of men, but her route was also upstairs to Hiei's side where she would stay for the remainder of the night. And so, the three of them made their way up the circular staircase as Kurama shrugged on his jacket and pulled his long red hair out from underneath his shirt collar where it had fallen.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Kurama did not head immediately to the door. Instead, he came to Hiei's side and smiled down at his old friend who was still silent upon the operating slab. Fixing Hiei's blanket so that it covered him better, Kurama placed a hand upon Hiei's still shoulder and squeezed.

"You'll be back." Kurama murmured softly, so softly that only Mukuro could hear by standing right behind him, "I know you'll come back. We'll be waiting for you, Hiei. We'll make this right soon enough."

He let go of Hiei's shoulder, and gave Mukuro one last look before heading for Shigure's door. Shigure gave Kurama a final nod of farewell before rummaging through his welding station, intent on finding something. Mukuro, stuck between staying beside Hiei and following Kurama out the door, decided to see the fox all the way to the front step. As they walked out onto the stoop, Mukuro saw that the rain had finally let up onto soft pink skies that gave everything a gentle red glow. It was close to dusk.

"I know that you have no interest in human world... but I'll say this, Mukuro. Human world has interest in you." Kurama paused, giving her a meaningful look. "You know Hiei only from one side of the coin. There is another side... a side you ought to know. A side that I think you will take great enjoyment from. We grew up in a world full of violence and hate. Do not tell me that peace does not appeal to you... because that's what you'll find in human world, Mukuro. Peace." Kurama admitted.

Mukuro rolled her eye at this, but she took note of Kurama's words. She knew that Hiei had a pull to human world; perhaps it would be wise to understand why.

"What makes you think I'll enjoy the other side?" Mukuro asked, calling out to Kurama as he walked off into the woods.

Kurama turned around, now walking backwards as he gave her a fond wave of farewell.

"Call it a hunch!" Kurama joked, and with a soft rustle of the brush he vanished from sight.

Mukuro was left alone on the step, feeling rather miffed.

"...Fucking fox." Mukuro grumbled, irritated beyond belief, "How come no one's killed him yet."

"I tried, it's not easy!" Shigure offered, laughing at his own joke. "Come inside, you're letting in a draft!"

Mukuro stepped off the stoop, and with a final look of disdain over her shoulder, shut the door.