Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho and I make no money from writing these stories. This is just a hobby, I promise.

AN: Well this is it, the last chapter of 'Going Home'. But don't worry, this is not the end of the story. This is the third Fic out of eight in a story arc, and even though this one is ending, the next Fic, 'New Life' has been written and will be posted soon.

If you want more details about the 'Going Home' arc, please see my profile. There is a list of all the future titles there and some details about the Fics themselves. If you are into mildly worrying/offensive, off-the-cuff ramblings, then there is a link to my Live Journal in my profile. Feel free to visit.

Going Home

By Evandar

Chapter 3

Things had not been easy for them. As soon as they had arrived back at the castle, Hiei and Kurama had been forced to deal with rebels. Most of them had been part of Mukuro's army, but oddly, the Generals had no part in their plan. They had realised that Hiei was far too powerful for them to fight, even if they did join forces.

They had been surprised when Hiei had returned mated, but they had been even more surprised at the identity of said mate, and it made them even more determined to comply; attacking Hiei when he had the backing of the most powerful Youko in demon history would be nothing short of suicide.

But even after dealing with the rebellion, which had turned into a massacre, Hiei and Kurama had very little time for each other. They did share the same bed but by the time that they dragged themselves into it, they were far to tired to do anything but sleep, curled up in each others' arms. Hiei had involved Kurama in the running of his territory far more than the Youko had expected him to, he had thought that as the submissive in their union he would be treated more as a trophy mate, but Hiei still saw him as an equal and frequently followed Kurama's advice. It was fortunate that this was seen as a strength rather than a weakness by their subordinates, though it was possibly because his generals were afraid of Kurama.

The politics involved in Hiei's takeover were fairly complex. He not only had to prove that he was mentally and physically capable of running such a large territory , but he had to sort out the increasing mistakes that Mukuro had made. She had started as a good ruler, but as she became more and more obsessed with claiming Hiei as her own, she had become lax and had allowed parts of her territory to slip from her grasp, leaving it to Hiei to get them back and strengthen the borders as well as change laws.

A month after their arrival in the Makai, Hiei was meeting with his Generals to change the border guards to more practical and sensible positions and numbers.

"Strengthen the borders?" one of the Generals exclaimed.

"But why, my Lord, only strengthen the borders we share with Lord Yomi? Lady Mukuro always had a good relationship with him," another General said.

"I'm not Mukuro," Hiei growled and all the Generals silenced. "For as long as I have known him, Yomi has been interested in taking Kurama as his mate. The news that Kurama is now mine will not remain in these borders, and it is my responsibility to protect him. To do that, I need to strengthen the borders against him and keep an eye on his movements."

"What about the borders with Urameshi?" the second General asked.

"Urameshi is my ally, we can spare some guards from there," Hiei told him and the General nodded. Hiei sighed with relief; he had won that debate, and his mate would soon be better protected.

KHKHKH

Kurama sat outside in the castle gardens, part way up a tree with his eyes closed. The wind was rustling in the leaves and playing with his hair. Kurama sighed softly, a smile gracing his lips; he felt so calm and happy here. He was glad that he had made the decision to come to the Makai with Hiei, but he did miss his human family, particularly his mother. Despite his happiness he did feel guilty about leaving so suddenly, but he had been caught up in the moment and practically euphoric about being with Hiei at last.

He paled drastically and sat bolt upright when he realised what kind of state their slightly rough mating had left his room in. He hadn't called his mother, hadn't left a note, and it had been a month since he had left the Ningenkai…his mother would be frantic!

His contentment shattered, he jumped from the tree and sprinted back up to the castle and the rooms that he shared with Hiei. Living with Shiori for such a long time and learning about emotions such as love that he had not experienced before meeting her, had filled him with great love and admiration for the human woman. He knew that he would not have been able to suppress his demon instincts when it came to Hiei, and he knew that his mother would have a hard time accepting their relationship, but he knew that he needed to tell her about his new life at the very least. He did owe her that.

He could not bring himself to tell her of his true nature, his actions had already hurt her enough, but he could tell her about Hiei and that he would not be returning to the Ningenkai.

Half an hour later, Kurama folded the heavy parchment his letter was written on. Could he risk going back to the Ningenkai to deliver it himself, of should he get a messenger to do it? He already knew the answer to that, if he returned and she saw him then he would have a hard time leaving her again, even though his rightful place was with his mate. But who could he trust with such an important task? None of the palace messengers were powerful enough to get through the barrier between the Makai and the Ningenkai, and even if they could he wouldn't trust them with this. An idea struck him and he grabbed his communicator from the table, opened it and called Botan.

"Kurama?" she asked, surprised to get a call from him. "What is it?"

"Hello Botan," he greeted. "I need a favour, could you come to Mukuro's old castle? I'm in the room with the balcony on the north side. Please come as soon as you can."

He closed the communicator and waited. She arrived a few minutes later, slightly out of breath and wondering what on earth was wrong with him. He explained quickly, and she agreed to deliver the letter. When she had gone, with the letter tucked into the sleeve of her kimono, Kurama stood and went back downstairs to meet his mate as Hiei left the council room. All he could do now was get on with his life and live in a way that he hoped might have made his mother proud should she have heard of it.

"How did it go?" Kurama asked, falling into step with the smaller demon.

"I got my point across eventually," Hiei sighed. "How was your morning?"

"I wrote a letter to my mother, telling her that I'm alive but that I'm not going back," Kurama told him. "I thought that she should know, considering all that she has done for me. I got Botan to deliver it."

Hiei said nothing, instead he just slipped his hand into Kurama's and entwined their fingers gently. He understood why Kurama had felt that he needed to do that, and he knew that their was nothing he could say that could make his Fox feel better, so he silently swore that he would always be there to support Kurama and let his actions do the talking for him. Besides, he wasn't that much good with words anyway.

They continued down the hall together, servants ducking out of the way and bowing low as they passed. They left the castle and stared out across the plains of the Makai from the top of the steps, over the expanse of Hiei's territory and towards Yomi's.

"When Yomi realises that you have strengthened your borders against him, he will attack," Kurama said after a while.

"The we prepare for war," Hiei replied. "The territory is not as divided about me as I thought is would be."

"That just means that you are good at what you do," Kurama chuckled, wrapping his arms around Hiei's shoulders.

"Only because of you," Hiei murmured, looking up at his mate. "Are you happy here Kurama?"

"Of course I am," Kurama replied, smiling brightly as he gazed into Hiei's eyes. "I'm with you; I'm home."

KHKHKH

'Dearest Mother,

'I am writing to tell you that I will not be returning to Tokyo, and possibly not even Japan. While I am alive and well, I do not think that I can continue to live a lie as I have done for quite some time now.

'By the time that you read this letter, I will no longer be in the country. I will not tell you where I am going as I do not want you to look for me. I know that my disappearance will have worried you, but I beg you to move on; I cannot bear the thought of you being sad because of me. The reason why I have left is so that I can start a new life with my lover, Hiei. It was my idea to leave as I knew that in Japan and within our new family, our union would never truly be accepted. We love each other, Mother, and we want to spend the rest of our lives together.

'Please do not doubt that I love you too. You taught me everything worth knowing, such as love and caring, and I owe you so much for that. I am happy and in love, and I will always try to live in a way that would make you proud, so please move on and concentrate on your new family.

'Your loving son,

'Shuuichi'

Shiori lowered the letter slowly and looked up at her husband and stepson, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Shiori? What is it?" Yoshio Hatanaka asked worriedly.

"It's from Shuuichi," she whispered. "He's alive."

She carefully folded the parchment back up and held it to her heart. She didn't care that her son had fallen in love with another man, she was just so happy that he was alright. Hope blossomed within her, as long as her son still lived she could always pray that one day, Shuuichi would return home again.