As Kalanie began to flicker, the teleporter stealing her away, Hiei's control snapped. He leapt from the branch burning beneath him and drew his katana as he sprinted for her. Fast as lightning, he struck at Masaru, his blade cleaving downward, but it found only empty air.

They were gone.

He'd been too late.

At his back, the others were yelling. Yusuke had Kuwabara by the collar, screaming in his face about what an idiot he'd been, and Kurama had turned to Jin and Touya, ordering them to set up fresh patrols, to double-check the barrier's strength. Then he sent Chu for Genkai.

A numbing rage settled over Hiei like a second cloak. He shoved his katana back into its sheath and crossed to Yusuke, yanking the man's hand from Kuwabara's shirt. "Cease your noise."

"You've got to be kidding me, Hiei. Kuwabara sentenced her to die."

"Not true." Kuwabara crossed his arms. "She was already sentenced to that, Urameshi. Didn't you hear Masaru? Besides, she asked me to. She didn't want to kill herself, and we weren't the ones to decide that for her."

"She asked you?" Yusuke jabbed his finger into Kuwabara's forehead. "You losing mind? She didn't talk."

Smacking Yusuke's hand away, Kuwabara rushed to defend himself, but Hiei didn't listen to his explanations. Their dithering didn't matter. He'd seen her ask it himself. That damned fist bump had read loud and clear.

The question was why.

What had she hoped to achieve?

The fighting in Demon World worsened.

The armies of puppets had shifted again. The lowling apparitions had fallen into line, joining Taku's ranks of their own accord, which freed the puppeteers from controlling the plundering gangs. Their focus moved to stronger demons—B class and higher.

The strikes of their puppets were varied, ranging across Alaric's expansive territory. Though much of Demon World had succumbed to chaos after the Fall, no one had solid control of broad swathes of land. But the puppet armies changed that. New borders began to form as the puppets marched ever outward.

Before that onslaught, Yusuke rallied Demon World's last defense. He summoned Yomi to his aide, and for once, the former lord obliged. Yusuke called, too, on Raizen's old allies, the brazen bunch of bastards who had appeared for the Demon World Tournament and then retreated to their hidden existences. Hiei hadn't expected them to answer Yusuke's summons, but he'd been wrong.

They came.

Offense became the only path forward. For nearly two years, they'd attempted defense, holding their lands and not trying to push for more. It had been all they were capable of. But with fresh fighters on their side, their strategies shifted.

Those strategies left no room for a moment's rest, let alone time to plot the rescue of one mere girl. Hiei's days were blood and battle and death. He had no room for Kalanie.

And yet, inexplicably, she lingered.

"Something's got to give." Yusuke pounded a hand against the floor. Around the meeting room, the assembled demons watched with tired eyes. Demon World's greatest fighters were crumbling. The puppets might be lesser in strength, but the puppeteers' ability to renew their forces day in and day out created odds that couldn't be beaten.

Even Hiei couldn't deny that.

Yusuke knew it, too.

"You're not wrong," Kurama said. The fox was haggard; a lingering stomach injury had hampered him for two days. Yukina hadn't the energy left to heal something that wasn't life threatening. "But I'm afraid we have no avenues left. Our combined powers vastly outweigh theirs, but our numbers are stretched too few. We cannot hold every line."

Seated on one of the room's cushions, so out of place beside Yusuke's woman, Yomi tilted his head and flicked an ear. "Kurama speaks true. The men I left in Gandara are failing. I will need to return there, and even I may not be able to stem the tide of battle."

"I know all that," Yusuke said. "We all know that. So how do we change it? What do we do?"

It was Kuwabara who cleared his throat. "Maybe we take them down from the inside."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Kalanie's there, right?"

Hiei stilled. Kuwabara had been thinking of her, too?

Meeting Yusuke's glare unflinchingly, Kuwabara continued, "She's in that fortress outside the Woods of whatever… War? One of the ridiculous Demon World names. I can't keep them all straight. But that doesn't matter. Kalanie's there, and we can use her. She can help us."

"I'm guessing Masaru isn't going to let her step out to chat with us."

"Of course not. We wouldn't want her to leave. We want her there. Gathering information."

Hiei watched the expressions flitting across Yusuke's face. Exasperation followed by uncertainty, then grudging hope. "I'm still not sure I get it."

Kuwabara hesitated then looked to Kurama. "I've been thinking—about how Hiei couldn't see her mind. But that's because it's shielded behind Masaru's, right? So if Hiei went in through Masaru's, could he get to Kalanie? To her thoughts, I mean. If he could, maybe she could tell us their plans, where their soldiers are going, maybe even where Project Shell was moved."

A crease darkened Kurama's brow. "It is… possible."

There was a moment's hesitation. No one dared to speak.

Then, his hand sliding to his katana, Hiei rose from his cushion. "Enough waiting," he growled. The same uncertain hope that had found Yusuke awoke in Hiei's chest. It was not such a horrid thing. "It'll be easier to find the wretch if I'm in Demon World. Open a portal. Let's begin."

The Woods of War provided the perfect hideout. Within the rustling leaves, Hiei could remain hidden for days, and from the boughs of a tree, it was only too easy to access the minds of the puppeteers living within the fortress.

Whether Taku also hunkered there, Hiei could not ascertain. They still knew nothing of the demon's power—how to identify it or what he might be capable of—and the army housed within the stronghold's walls was too much for them to take on without information. Kurama had long ago determined the cost of a fight against this place would far outweigh the benefits.

All of which meant he knew he could not charge the fortress when he found Masaru, no matter how much the fiend's vile mind disgusted him. He wasn't here for Masaru, not truly.

He was here for her.

And Kuwabara had been right. As the Jagan flared on his forehead, Hiei slid through the muck of Masaru's twisting thoughts. Hidden in his pitiful mind, Hiei discovered channels to the puppets bound to Masaru's will. Though he knew Kalanie's mind only vaguely, having acquired only the barest sense of her from the fleeting moments when he'd allowed her into his memories, his understanding was enough.

He found the channel to her and slipped within it, calling her name as he did.

–Kalanie.–

Her mind was broken. Shattered. She didn't answer to her name. Instead, she pulled farther from him, retreating before his touch. She fled so deep he could do nothing but call after her, unable to follow.

But he returned the next night.

And the night after that.

He spoke her name. Over and over. Reminding her who she was, trying to bring her within reach.

She fought him at every turn.

Frustration drove him onward, and he followed farther than he should have, all the way into her deepest recesses. When she could retreat no further, she lashed out, and he became her, living the moment in which she'd killed Mazou so vividly—so intensely—that he lost his connection to her entirely, bucked from her consciousness despite his Jagan's skill.

Her pain was so absolute that it had fractured her mind, and with it, she'd nearly broken Hiei's in turn.

Yet as he came back to himself, returning to his body sheltered deep in the Woods of War, he vowed Masaru would die. Not by his hand.

But by hers.

He changed strategies.

Her own identity had ruined her. Perhaps her brother's would put her back together.

–Nomi.–

At the name, something stirred in her. Her thoughts opened to his.

Hiei saw Nomi then, for the first time. The boy was Kalanie's near replica. Same nose. Same chin. Same eyes. Only the tightness of his curls differed from hers. A moment later, Kalanie showed him the Shell—the contraption that siphoned power from her brother and enabled the barrier's interruption.

She nearly broke again, thinking of Mazou dead at her feet, but he staved off the shadows, reminding her of Nomi, and as she surfaced, the rest of her memories followed, playing before him like a stuttering film. He caught flashes of her time at the shrine, brief impressions of how she viewed their ragtag band of fighters.

But his name evaded her. Carefully, he searched her scattered memories until he found the moment when Masaru forbade mention of him—of Hiei. That erasure enraged him.

It would not stand.

He reminded her of his name, then conjured his likeness and displayed it to her. A spark of recognition rippled through her consciousness in answer, but it was a moment before she responded in full. When she did, showing him a version of himself he had never before imagined, he realized he had won.

He'd awoken her.

And in the face of that Hiei—her Hiei—who he did not properly know, he began to laugh.

When Kalanie showed him Taku's plans for Tourin, Hiei left Demon World for the first time since finding her.

The insights he brought to Human World gave them time, the few precious hours needed for Kuwabara to cleave open the worlds, withdraw their forces from skirmishes in the Forest of Fools, and dispatch them to Tourin instead. The battle that followed was bloody, as violent as Masaru had promised, but the puppeteer had miscalculated the fight's victor. He'd failed to account for Kalanie.

Once it was done, Hiei returned to her.

This time, she was waiting for him.

"You want me to stay here?" The whisper rang quiet through the empty bedroom. It brought with it a panic that hooked sharp claws into the most tender pieces of her soul, and though she strived to hold her voice steady, she couldn't keep it from trembling as she added, "I can't do that."

–You have to.–

She dug her fingers into her calves, suddenly cognizant of the armchair she sat in. Its supple leather was soft beneath her, comfortable and lavish. It made her skin crawl. "No. Hiei, I have to leave here. You need to help me—"

–You will stay. For Nomi.–

She shut her jaw on further protest.

Somehow, in showing her his memories, Hiei had managed to burn away much of the haze that had held her in its grip for days, and as always, he'd left behind the lingering feel of himself—the ghost of power she didn't possess, the differing length of his limbs—though how much of that was from his memories versus his continued presence in her mind, she couldn't be sure. Either way, tucked beneath the sensation him, she finally remembered what it was to be Kalanie again rather than the shell she'd become.

It terrified her.

–Stop.– Hiei's voice was firm, commanding but patient. The feel of him inside her mind was a foreign thing, like someone had stepped too closely into her personal bubble, yet there was a comfort to it, too. A certain steady heat she'd grown to associate with the odd, tension-riddled moments they'd shared so often in the mountain shrine.

Despite herself, her thoughts flicked back to the day Hiei had returned from the detectives' doomed battle on the Plains of Peril, injured and without Nomi. Then she recalled ending up in his bed, pinned beneath him, his closeness consuming her, overriding everything—

–Don't get distracted.–

The command was as stern as anything he'd said to her, yet in it she heard something else, too. Something—dare she think it—akin to a purr.

–Enough. Focus.–

"On what?" she hissed. "The fact you want me to stay here? Because you think I can get you information? I can't get you anything, Hiei. Once he comes back…" She choked off whatever she'd planned to say next. She couldn't bring herself to face it. Not yet. Not when she'd just gotten herself back.

Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair. Speaking to an empty room felt so absurd, yet here she sat, barely clinging to sanity and talking to nothing but air. How Hiei thought she could accomplish anything useful was beyond her.

Frustration—Hiei's, not hers—spiked in her blood. –I can hear your thoughts as long as you don't wall me out. You don't need to speak them aloud.–

Well, hell if that wasn't invasive.

–Listen to me. Masaru will return soon. Stop fighting and realize what you can help us do.–

Like what? He'd told her to stay here. She couldn't flee like she so desperately wished she could. Nor could she snoop about the fortress's halls, digging for whatever misbegotten hope Hiei thought might be out there. All she could do was sit and wait—for the fog's next descent, for the next command that tore her identity away, for the next torturous brand across her soul.

–I can keep it at bay. This fog of yours.–

What? How?

–I will keep you tethered. You lose yourself because you want to be lost, but no more. You cannot be so willfully weak. You're needed.–

Then he'd better damn well tell her what to do.

His presence vibrated with what could only be the mental equivalent of a snort. –You need to listen. Masaru believes he controls you. He tells you things—shows you things—that could change this war. Pay attention to them.–

She sucked in a steadying breath. Pay attention. Live in vivid detail every hellish breath she spent under his control. Choose to be conscious of the deplorable acts he forced her to commit. Willfully watch herself kill people—innocents like Mazou, helpless souls caught in his clutches.

–I will be there.–

A laugh stuttered from her lips. He said it so confidently. As if his mere presence could make her strong enough to bear it all.

As if anything could make her that strong.

–Stop pitying yourself. Remember what you told me. Controlling your body isn't controlling you. Those choices aren't yours.– The sensation of his laughter rolled through the connection between them. –In your own words, they're contractions of your muscles and nothing more.–

That was before. Before she killed Maz. When she'd been free. When months of freedom had dulled her memories of the fog his control brought. When she'd naively thought she might discover a way to best him.

–Kalanie.–

His tone was so somber. So serious.

It stopped her in her tracks.

–You will fight back. We will.–

We.

She bit her lip, and though she did not have to, she spoke aloud, letting her voice break the room's silence, allowing her words to make this real. "Then how do we start?"

–Pay attention to your surroundings. Learn this fortress. If I were to watch through Masaru, he might sense my presence. If he did, I can't guarantee he wouldn't manage to block me from his mind permanently, severing my connection to you. But I can observe through you. If we can map out their holdings, we can plan an assault.–

An assault. If she wanted true freedom, that might be the way to get it.

She stood and turned to survey the bedroom. As with the rest of the stronghold, its walls and floors were welded from iron and bright fluorescent lights glared down from the ceiling, but there were Masaru's touches here too, the things he had done to transform this place into his own. Like the thick rug spread beneath the four-poster bed and her cot at its footboard. Like the armchairs by the window. Every personal detail was expensive, hand-crafted from finely made goods.

So vain.

–Good. Keep watching. Study everything. Let me see it all.–

Fine. She could do that.

–Listen, too. Ask questions. We need to know where their new puppeteers are coming from. Fighting their armies is foolish. It gets us nowhere. But if we can cut their puppeteers off at the source, we stop the growth of their forces.–

What good would that do? She thought distantly of the first time he'd shown her his memories, when she'd seen how Demon World had fallen apart, roving bands of fighters turning on the lords that once governed them. Those hadn't been puppets, not to start. Even without the puppeteers, those clans would continue to fight—

–They won't. They've begun to turn on Taku already. The future he promised them is not what they thought it would be.– Scorn coated Hiei's thoughts, and his disgust wormed into her bones. –While his puppeteers loom, they won't fight for us. Like cowards, they would rather cower and hide, saving themselves from the Sovereign Binds. But stop more puppeteers from rising and we might see a swell in our army.–

She swiveled back to the window. As with the panes at the end of the hall, this glass looked out over the swaying trees that formed the Woods of War. Under the moon's light, the canopy looked red as blood.

Learn the fortress. Discover where Taku found his puppeteers. Huge tasks, both. Yet they were something—a purpose.

–There is one more piece.–

She hardly dared breathe as she waited for him to continue.

–We must find Nomi. None of this ends until the barrier returns. Your brother is key to that.–

Nomi.

Nomi who had once been hidden beneath the Plains of Peril but had since gone missing, slipping through her fingers like smoke. She would never find him. Not through Masaru. He hated her love for her brother—hated that even after six years, she'd not chosen him over Nomi.

Never mind that he was the sadistic beast who stole her life from her. Never mind that she would sooner see him dead than care for him in any way.

He wanted her to desire him. It was why he kept her so close. It was why he bid her to sleep at the foot of his bed. So that someday, she might choose to crawl beneath his sheets and lie with him. But she would never. Not as long as she had any sense of free will left to her. Not as long as he didn't compel it.

A scorching heat swelled in her chest, and she gasped as Hiei snarled. –Never.–

She pressed a hand over her racing heart. There was an animalistic sort of fervor in Hiei's thoughts, a breadth of feeling she could only liken to the territorial rage of a beast defending its land.

–Look outside.–

The intensity of his presence dimmed as she did as bidden. He was still there, hovering at the edge of her consciousness, but he kept his emotions carefully hidden from her, as if he'd built a wall between them.

She was about to question what was so important beyond the windows when a flash of movement at the forest's edge caught her eye. Her brows rose.

Hiei was there, standing on the branch of a tree, little more than a silhouette caught in a beam of moonlight. She could make out nothing of his features in detail, but there was no doubt it was him—even before he spoke.

–I am here. I can't get you before you've learned what we need, but if he… forces you in that way, then I will not hesitate. He will die.–

The last word brought with it a wave of anger so scorching it left her breathless.

The hand she'd held to her heart rose to her throat, and she dragged a trembling breath into her lungs. "Promise me, Hiei," she whispered. "Don't leave me here. I will stay, but I can't do it alone. Please…"

–Hn.–

"Promise."

–Have I not just done so?– A mirthless laugh passed through their connection. –But fine. If you must hear it exactly, then I promise. I am here, and I will not leave without you.–

"Thank you."

This time, there was no denying the sound he sent to her was a self-satisfied purr.

Then, for a moment, he grew colder, more distant. When his presence returned in full, his thoughts were honed with deadly seriousness. –Masaru is returning. Don't speak to me any longer, but don't push me out. I will stay, and you will hold off the fog. Understood?–

Her nails bit into her palms.

She glared at her knuckles, scowling at the black whorls that stained her skin, declaring her his property, marking her as something tainted—and she vowed to be free of them, not in some far off future, but soon. As soon as feasibly possible. With that promise echoing in her bones, she sank with painstaking care back into the armchair where Masaru had left her and crossed her legs at the ankles, staring blankly into the moonlit night.

In her mind's eye, she pictured Nomi, conjuring up every last detail of him committed in her memory. His curls. His eyes. The freckle ever so slightly off-center atop his nose.

She kept that image close as the door hissed open, announcing Masaru's return, and when he commanded her to rise, she did as bidden. But she was ready for the fog's assault, and she staved it off, clinging to Hiei's fiery presence, to the promise he had sworn her, using it to burn back the haze. So though her body obeyed his commands, her mind remained hers, her thoughts as clear and focused as they had ever been.

Time to fight.

For Nomi.

And for herself, too.

AN: So we have a plan. A spy mission of sorts. And Hiei is in Kalanie's head, because apparently I couldn't avoid telepathy forever. That said, I am sort of playing with how a person would respond to someone within their head. Like is there really a need for concrete thoughts in answer? Since Hiei is listening to everything Kalanie thinks, there's no real need for her to formulate an answer; Hiei already knows what she might say.

Anyway, Saturday's update may come out late in the day. I'm attending the Women's March on Boston (oh how I wish I could be in DC), so I won't be able to get online until I'm home probably. Though maybe I'll update at midnight instead?

Thank you to all my reviewers! There was a whole bunch of new faces (or usernames? haha) last chapter. It was a delight to hear from everyone, both old and new.