She smiled.

In her room she was more than pleased to find the image of herself on the bed. "Hello, there," she spoke softly to it. The image woke up, looked strangely at her.

"Who are you?" it asked, in her own voice.

"I'm you," Juei replied, with a little laugh. "Don't be afraid." The projection frowned, appearing troubled. Juei sat on the bed and summoned the you-ki she needed to reinforce the spell. Juei reached out and touched the fine hair, stroked the pale cheeks. Was she that pretty, really? Her father didn't seem to think so; but then, he had only Kurama on his mind at the moment, and had so far paid little attention to her.

She stood up from the bed, stretched her arms and her legs, tilted her head this way and that, and walked slowly to the door, shutting it quietly behind her as she left the room.

She slid into shadows and made her way toward the centre of the Palace.

"You see," Reikaze explained sweetly, leading him by the hand toward her chambers, "when I found you, all I really noticed was your Jagan. I had no idea, of course, that it wasn't natural."

"I told you that I wasn't born with it."

"I thought you'd meant that you'd developed it later. How many people are stupid enough to have a third eye implanted?" He bristled, said nothing. "Well, naturally I assumed that your children would have them as well, and I was proven wrong. Juei is the only one that survived." Hiei halted, his temples throbbing. Reikaze turned to face him, still holding his hand.

"I want to see Kurama," he stated flatly.

"Now?" she pouted.

"Now," he replied.

"I'm afraid he's not exactly fit for viewing," Reikaze told him dubiously.

"Now," Hiei repeated. Reikaze sighed, and turned to walk in another direction. "What have you been doing with him?" he wondered.

"Just having a little fun," she said, with an enigmatic smile.

"How long has he been here?"

"Only half a day," Reikaze laughed. "You should know that."

"How long has it been for _him_?" he snapped. Reikaze winked at him.

"Nearly a year," she said. "But I knew you'd come for him sooner or later, so I kept him alive." Hiei snarled low, refrained from saying what he wanted to. Reikaze watched him for a moment, then turned and led him in another direction.

"You will release him," Hiei spoke, finally. "And I want to ensure he is safely in the Ningenkai."

"I can't let you go, Hiei," Reikaze told him matter-of-factly, pausing before a smooth metallic wall. "I didn't put him through all of this just to let you get away." She pulled him through the wall; Hiei shivered with the sudden cold, knew his you-ki was being drained, and frowned.

And he dropped to his knees beside the figure he knew was Kurama but could not recognise as such.

The lovely long hair had been shorn almost completely off. He'd lost weight; his bones nearly protruded through his skin. The effect was worsened by his being naked, and by the myriad slashes, bruises, and scars over every inch of him. He opened dull eyes and looked up at Hiei, then closed his eyes and turned his head away.

Hiei lifted him into his lap, ground his teeth and stifled a sound of protest at Kurama's weightlessness, at his cold skin, at his weak heartbeat. He smoothed his hand over Kurama's battered scalp, touched his face, assured himself that if nothing else, his lover was going to live.

"He'll be fine," Reikaze laughed wickedly. "As soon as he gets back home to his mama."

Hiei ignored her, took off his cloak and wrapped it around Kurama's body and held him close.

"You are not Hiei," he responded from habit. Cool hands touched his face, his throat, slid around his shoulders, wrapped him in unfamiliar warmth.

"Kurama, it's me," Hiei said softly.

"It really is him," he heard Reikaze's mocking tones. "This time."

"Kurama," Hiei whispered, pressing his cheek against Kurama's. Kurama put up his hands, protesting, weakly pushing him away, feeling hot tears streak his face. He didn't dare believe, anymore; he had been fooled far too often.

"You bitch," Hiei said, still holding him. "You -- "

"You can have your friends escort him to the Ningenkai," Reikaze interrupted. There was silence in the room for a moment.

"Kurama," Hiei murmured into his ear, "Yuusuke and Kuwabara will take you home."

"You are not Hiei," Kurama gasped.

"Sh," Hiei said, and lifted him up.

Since when, Kurama wondered, could Hiei pick him up so easily? It had been so long, so long since he'd been home, how would he know his mother when he saw her? And this wasn't, couldn't possibly be Hiei, because Hiei would have come for him long before now. Who had put this warm blanket around him? He'd been cold for so long he couldn't remember what warmth felt like.

"You are not Hiei," he attempted again, before his vision blackened entirely.

Things weren't going the way she'd expected; she hadn't honestly thought that Reikaze would let the youko go, certainly not this swiftly. She hid in a shadow, leaned against a wall, and tried to think.

A hand fell on her shoulder. She yelped, jumped, and spun to face the Captain of Reikaze's Guard. He smiled, and the rest of his body came through the wall.

"Well," he said quietly, his fingers digging into her shoulder. "We wondered when you'd be back."

"Na-nani?" she stammered.

"I'm afraid," he went on, "that I'm going to have to arrest you."

"For what?" she wondered.

"Treason," he replied, and dropped a binding spell on her before she could think to move. Juei's body fell limp to the floor.

"When my mother hears of this," she began, gasping, but the Captain only sighed and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder.

"Your mother was the one who ordered it," he told her, and carried her in the direction of Reikaze's throne room.

Yuusuke paced. "He should have come out by now," he muttered, glaring up at the white walls of the palace. "It's not like him to take his time doing anything." Kazuma watched him, hands in his pockets, and said nothing. Yuusuke stopped. "Aren't you the least bit concerned?"

"Not for Hiei," Kazuma shrugged. "He can take care of himself." Yuusuke stared.

"That's the first good thing you've ever said about him," he noted. Kazuma snorted.

"That I'm not concerned for him?"

"That he can take care of himself."

"I've never said otherwise."

"True," Yuusuke was forced to admit. "But -- " They both turned as they sensed someone moving toward them. The wall in front of them shimmered slightly, and two figures moved through it; one was a tall, slender woman, and the other was Hiei, carrying Kurama. The last was wrapped up in Hiei's black cloak, looking very childlike in sleep.

"Yatta," Yuusuke grinned. Hiei glowered.

"Take him back to his mother," he said, handing Kurama to him. "Once he's lucid, he'll be able to help her heal him." Yuusuke stared, taking Kurama into his arms.

"How the hell," he exclaimed, "did he get in this bad shape, since this morning?"

"Long story," Hiei told him. "Take him back, now." Yuusuke nodded, blinking. Kuwabara stared, silent. Hiei turned with the woman, and headed once more inside the palace.

Yuusuke and Kuwabara watched him go; when the white wall reformed, they turned together and sped to the Ningenkai, and to Shiori, to wait for Hiei, according to their plan.

Reikaze smiled.

"I'm really quite surprised," she told him, taking his hand again. "I didn't honestly believe you'd do this, for him."

"Is that so." He did not look at her. She led him in silence back to the cell, and motioned for him to step inside. He cocked an eyebrow at her. Reikaze laughed.

"It's the only place I can keep you," she said. "You're far too powerful for me."

"What's stopping me from killing you now, then?" he wondered softly.

"You know that your little youko friend isn't home safe yet," she reminded him. "And you also know that I have a dozen youkai ready to kill him the moment you leave." He watched her. She waited.

He turned and walked into the cell. Reikaze followed him, unable to wipe the smile off her face. "Lie down," she commanded. Hiei lay down obediently. "Hold still." He closed his eyes. She placed a ward over his Jagan; he clenched his teeth and his fists and suppressed a cry. She remembered that he had been in pain, the last time.

"Now," she mused, kneeling over him, "where did we leave off, last time?" She delved into his thoughts, into his memories, and found something interesting; he had suppressed his last visit here. More than that, he had replaced his memories, a trick she herself had inadvertently taught him, while trying to make him forget --

"Hiei," she scolded him, "did you really make yourself believe I raped you?" He said nothing; a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. "How unimaginative. And only over a period of a few weeks? We'll have to remedy that," she sighed. "Let me remind you exactly what happened, when you were here last."

"Baka," Kazuma snapped. "What did you think she'd do?" He carried Shiori -- unconscious -- to the couch, and lay her down gently.

"I dunno," Yuusuke told him. "My mother'd just hit me."

"She's not your mother," Kazuma retorted. "Listen, take him up to his room or something -- "

"'Kaa...san..." They both looked at Kurama. His eyes were barely open. "'Kaa...san," he repeated.

"She's fine," Yuusuke assured him. "You're fine. You're home now."

"She..."

"Sh," Yuusuke said, and turned away, to carry Kurama upstairs. Kazuma watched them go, then crouched beside Shiori.

"Shiori-san," he said softly, patting her cheek, gently. "Shiori-san. Please wake up." Her eyelashes fluttered.

"Shuuichi," she gasped, and sat up quickly. He took hold of her shoulders. "Kazuma-kun," she breathed. "Shuuichi -- "

"Yuusuke took him up to his room," he said, trying to remain calm, trying to think what Yukina would do with a panicking person. "He's going to be all right."

"Oh, no," she said, standing, pushing him aside. "He's not all right." She was up the stairs before he could stop her. Kazuma bolted after her, guiltily remembering that he had not taken off his shoes at the door.

" -- a tepid bath," he heard her say, from Kurama's room. Yuusuke stepped out into the hall and to the bath room; Kazuma went into Kurama's room, and stopped in the doorway.

Shiori sat on the bed, holding Kurama's hand, tears soaking her face and dripping from her chin. "You're going to be fine," she promised her son, reaching up and touching his ill-cut hair. "You're going to be all right, now." Kurama blinked at her, his eyes dull, his face expressionless.

"Don't," he whispered, painfully, "be her." Shiori lifted his hand to her face and kissed the bony fingers.

Kazuma slipped out, and joined Yuusuke in the bath room, where he was preparing a lukewarm bath as per Shiori's instructions.

He was bound and warded as securely as he'd been when he'd been thrown away after his birth; he could see nothing, could do nothing; his Jagan had been warded separately from the rest of his body. And Reikaze was putting her hands on him once more and again the rippling pain tore through him even as she spoke sweetly as she had been doing for the last --

She caressed his arm, the one that he had once bound in order to suppress the Black Dragon. "Hiei," she said, cooing his name as a lover would, "I'm going to take your body."

If he'd been able to, Hiei would have laughed.

Warm water, washing away the aches, the pains, the blood. His mother's touch, a soft cloth, wiping his face, his throat, his chest, his --

"'Kaasan," he pleaded.

"I'm your mother," she informed him. "I've seen all this before."

"I -- "

"I don't care how old you are, I'm your mother and you need to be taken care of. If that means carrying a bedpan for you, I'll do it." He hated being this weak, this sick. He had no you-ki, could not even begin to heal himself. Shiori squeezed the cloth over his head, let the water trickle down, wiped it away from his swollen eyes. "Hiei-kun will be coming home soon," she promised him.

He began to sob.

He wished he had a sense of humour; he would have been able to amuse himself, while waiting.

Reikaze had left him alone, to go find Juei, she'd told him. He hoped that their plan had worked, that Juei had managed to escape Reikaze's clutches, that Kurama would be home safely by now -- he could not tell how long that would take, for time was so bizarre in this tiny sub-dimension.

He heard footsteps and voices and felt sudden warmth as someone was shoved into the cell beside him. "Otousama," Juei breathed. He said nothing, could not speak.

"There you can stay," Reikaze laughed. "I'll kill you, eventually."

Hiei lay perfectly still, for there was nothing else he could do.