What Runs Deeper

a fanfiction by andrivette and psychoheidi
sequel to Seven Days of Falling

chapter one
"Borne of Blood"

When Mukuro opened her eye, she had not a clue what time it might be, but that hardly mattered.

At first she was confused, but confusion quickly melted into joy when she realized its source. Alongside her, an arm draped over her and characteristically warm, was Hiei. She leaned over to kiss his mouth, but stopped mid-motion.

Something wasn't right.

Mukuro glanced around quickly, but no one was there. She could have sworn she felt something on the edge of her mind.

Then she saw it. The door was slightly ajar.

Mukuro rolled silently out of bed, lightly—but quickly—moving across the floor until she reached the door, cracking it further and peering out into the hall.

No one was there. They had already gone.

"Damn it," she whispered to herself, shutting the door with agitation. The fact that some bastard would dare to sneak into her room didn't bother her so much as the fact that she happened to be so vulnerable when he chose to do so.

And she thought they might be safe. So much for that.

"Were you looking to accomplish something?" she heard across the room. "Or was it your intention to stand there like an idiot?"

"Someone came in," Mukuro answered sharply, allowing her voice to convey the threat rather than her eyes.

Some part of Mukuro was irrationally worried that if she looked at Hiei now, the realization of the little intimacy they had shared before would come racing back, disabling her and drawing her back to him, and as enticing as that notion seemed, she could not allow herself to relax knowing that someone could sneak in on them at any moment.

So instead, she dressed.

She might have said something more to Hiei but felt that that thought alone—that they were unsafe—was sufficient enough in explaining herself. And so she stepped out into the hallway, intent on solving the mystery before the day was done.

For the first time in over a week, Hiei took time to dress himself. He adjusted his belts to the correct notches, meticulously re-wrapped the healing wound on his hand, put a pair of his own shoes on his feet. He had never spent any length of time in the bedroom Mukuro had assigned him when he first joined her ranks, but today he discovered a small closet containing several unworn black cloaks which he had not put there himself. He chose one and carefully folded a clean white scarf around his neck.

Hiei liked being in control, and he relished this welcome semblance of it.

If what Mukuro said was true—that someone had entered her bedroom last night while they were asleep—it would mean that he hadn't the control that he thought.

That irritated him.

But Hiei didn't want to be irritated. He and Mukuro had established some degree of tranquility, and he wanted to hold onto that, not lose these feelings of security to the same vexation that seemed always to plague him.

Yet the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

He remembered that he had left his sword outside, but when he went to retrieve it in order to have the blade replaced, it was nowhere to be found. He even attempted to locate it with the aid of the Jagan but to no avail. Instead, he had to settle for a replacement that was far too large and bulky for his person.

And so, when Hiei found Mukuro standing near the entrance to the dining hall, speaking to a generically ugly pig-faced soldier, he did not have the patience to wait for her to finish the conversation.

"—and he suddenly got really angry, and I couldn't do anything in time to stop it," the demon was saying urgently.

Hiei stood next to Mukuro for three endless seconds of skull-crushing boredom before interrupting mid-sentence.

"Neither of us have time for your inconsequential babble," he said. "So why don't you carry your unfortunate hide out of my sight?"

"Hiei," Mukuro snapped, "I don't need your help dealing with my men." Then she crossed her arms. "It's nice to see you in something fitting."

Then she glanced briefly back at the demon who had been speaking to her, who was inching further away, and continued, "I'm hoping you have a good reason to interrupt."

"As a matter of fact," said Hiei, "An as-yet unidentified imbecile has stolen my sword."

The pig-faced creature with whom Mukuro had been conversing made some sort of odd choking noise and took a step back, and Hiei looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"What?" he barked. "Was it you?"

"N-no!"

"If you know who was responsible, I demand to—"

"No! Look behind you!"

Immediately, Hiei and Mukuro whipped around, having been spared only a few seconds to comprehend the bizarreness of the scene unfolding. One of Mukuro's men was heading straight for them, face contorted in rage. His nonsensical battle cry filled the corridor as he ran, swinging a mace overhead, a murderous gleam in his eye.

A gaggle of soldiers tried to bring him down from behind but couldn't catch up in time.

"What the hell?" said Hiei, a split-second before the demon lunged at them, the weapon tearing down through the air.

A second, though, was more than enough time for Hiei and Mukuro to dodge the ill-intended strike, but the rage-blind demon turned his gaze on Mukuro and lunged for her again.

"Stop attacking me, subordinate!" she shouted at him. "I don't want to kill you!"

He foolishly did not listen, and again Mukuro dodged him, but this time she countered, thrusting her arm at him to silence his onslaught for good.

"Death must have been his intent, or else he lost his damn mind," Mukuro muttered, but Hiei was not nearly as focused on her words as he was on her person, and when she followed his gaze, she saw the crimson seeping into the cloth of her sleeve. That blow must have reopened the wound she had inflicted on herself during the battle with the cyborg, and now it was again gushing blood.

"Hell," she cursed, wrapping her metal hand around it to stem the flow, and as she began to walk away, she called back at him, "Hiei, get rid of that body, would you?"

Hiei waited until Mukuro had disappeared from his sight, then cast a downward glance at the bloody carcass before him.

"Hn, not likely," he said, then swiftly turned and set off in the other direction.

"B-but wait!"

"What?" Hiei snapped, looking back sharply at the stuttering, idiotic pig-faced fool behind him.

"You can't just leave that there after Lord Mukuro told you to—"

"If it bothers you so much," said Hiei, "Why don't you dispose of it?"

"But I don't even—"

Hiei ignored the buzzing noise as it reached his ears, instead choosing to find his way out of the fortress, locate his favorite tree, and spend the latter part of the morning and into the afternoon napping in the warmth of the breeze that rustled the leaves on the branches around him. The sunlight in the Makai was by no means as bright or warm as the sunlight in human world could be, but it relaxed Hiei, and for just a while he was able to push from his mind the irritation he felt at having lost his sword.

When he finally re-entered the fortress, curious about the progress of Mukuro's silly little investigation, several hours had passed. He ventured through the familiar maze of halls, noting with some amusement that the corpse from before had indeed been removed without his help.

At first he almost overlooked the sound of fast-approaching footsteps behind him. It was not until the noise grew faster and nearer that warning bells began to ring in Hiei's head, and he turned just in time to slice through the middle of the soldier that had, apparently, been trying to attack him.

And disturbingly, from the steadily-growing rumble of footsteps nearby, it seemed others had gotten the same idea.