Again, sorry about the long wait! It went through a LOT of revision in regards to Hiei's decision, simply because I couldn't make up my mind. The end result is the same however, so the next chapter just needs to be... written. Sigh. It's hard. Haha. The next chapter is probably the final chapter though. Sniff.

By the way, I notice people have been leaving reviews pointing out the huge mistake of Kurama's 1000 yen raise in rent in chapters 6 or 7 or something like that. I always thought I typed it in right, but I changed it again this time, and then I realised that FFNET doesn't allow repetitive characters. So I have to change it to a raise of ten thousand yen or something like that. instead of multiple zeroes, which causes FFNET to delete the zeroes on its own. People have said that they have been "Scrambling for the back button whilst wincing at the mistake" and well, I ... can't really be bothered now? I've changed it like close to 5 times without realizing that FFNET does this, and now I'm just too lazy to go back and do it lol... not while I'm rushing this chapter.

Hope you enjoy!

Silent Portrait: Chapter 33

"Your reasoning is faulty as always, Shigure," Hiei said, his tone decidedly calm, despite Shigure's arrogant chuckle. Hiei's fists were clenched tightly, willing himself to pull through. He had to be calm for Yusuke. For everyone.

"Coward. Insulting me over the phone where I can't hurt you. Let's see, one person should do the trick for a nice starter -"

A gunshot went off. Hiei's hand jerked abruptly as he heard it and the resulting scream. His heart sank. Was it Yusuke?

Straining his ears, he managed to make out Yusuke yelling a blue streak, and many more people screaming. He bit back a sigh of relief before speaking firmly into the phone. Looking to Kurama for strength, he laughed hard, pretending not to be affected by the gunshot that just went off. He kept his eyes locked with Kurama.

"If I handed over the company to you, imagine the number of lawsuits you and I would face. With over a hundred staff did you really think you would survive a mass resignation? And surely you're not that narcissistic to think all of these people you now hold at gunpoint would be willing to work for you. Does that brain of yours contain anything but an endless quest for riches?"

"Then you would choose to give up the gems?"

"You can take all of them if it means you would never harm me or anyone close to me again."

Kurama instinctively put his arm around Yukina. She had always been the primary target; being the closest to Hiei. Already there had been one kidnapping... who's to say others won't follow suit? Even as he tried comforting Yukina, he felt a hint of jealousy stir up within him. Stop it, Kurama scolded himself. What he feels towards you and Yukina is different.

"Naturally. Once I have had all of your gems, you will no longer have anything I would want. I know how many there are, Jaganshi. You'd better give me all of it, or else. They were rightfully mine, anyway."

"Not all of it is rightfully yours," Hiei droned coolly, taking a planner out of his briefcase and flipping to a random, empty page. Briskly, he beckoned Kurama and Yukina over, and wrote the words, "Stay here with Yukina first. I will call you when it is safe to come back."

"No, Oniisan, you can't!" Yukina cried out, tears forming in her eyes. "Please let me go with you, we all need to stick together..."

"You hid my share from me," Shigure snarled, anger evident in his voice. "Enough smart talk from you, little billionaire. Where are they?" Shigure demanded.

"Half of them are in a safe in the office," Hiei said clearly, averting his gaze from Yukina and her pleas.

"And the other half?"

"The other half is in a bank somewhere in the Saitama prefecture, the whereabouts of which I will not disclose to you. I will go now and personally bring them to you, on the promise that you and your men leave my company right after taking the gems from the safe."

"Really. And you'll meet me with the other half of the gems together with the entire police force of Tokyo behind your back, I assume."

"Would I? Remember, we were both involved with the gems. As long as you are free, I am free. And if you are caught, then sooner or later I will be caught too. Take the gems and get the fuck out of Japan before you become an outlaw."

There was a moment of silence. Kurama's mind was reeling. Hiei? Jaganshi Hiei, involved in a crime that has never been solved? What on earth was going on? He glanced towards Yukina, assessing her face. She did not appeared to be perturbed by this revelation. So she knows.

"Fine. Give me the combination numbers, and I will meet you at the usual place at eight tonight. That should give you ample time, no?"

"Call me before then. It depends on the schedule of flights anyway," said Hiei, checking his watch. It was just a little past one in the afternoon.

"So rich, and yet unwilling to buy your own private jet," Shigure said, amused.

"The combination is 45-83-29-0. Four times to the right, three to the left, twice to the right again, and back to zero. Now, pass the phone back to Yusuke."

"Oh?"

"Unless you want a bunch of police officers after your neck, pass the phone to him so he and the rest of the staff don't do anything stupid like call the police."

There was a shuffling sound and an indignant shriek before the phone was finally passed to Yusuke.

"Yusuke, who was shot?"

"Someone, I don't know who. She's not badly hurt, only shot in the leg. Boss, what the fuck are you fucking doing -"

"Listen. I'm giving up the gems. I know you have no idea what gems I'm talking about, but no matter what happens, do NOT call the police."

"WHAT? HE'S FUCKING TERRORIZING THE ENTIRE BUILDING AND YOU DON'T WANT ME TO CALL THE FUCKING POLICE? FUCK, THE POLICE SHOULD BE HERE BY NOW-"

"YUSUKE," Hiei hollered, his patience wearing thin. "Unless you really want me to go to jail as well, DON'T. CALL. THE POLICE. Should the police arrive, do not give them Shigure's name. Give a description if you like, but do not reveal his name. "

"I... What? What the fuck-"

There was a click as he was abruptly cut off, leaving Hiei with a dial tone and a heavy heart.

"Right. That... should solve the situation for now -" Hiei was interrupted by Yukina throwing her arms around him.

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly. She turned to look at Kurama, who had an odd look in his eyes. "And so is Kurama-kun."

"No, Yukina. I'm not budging on this one."

"I want to be there. I want to make sure you give them all up. It's time you let that part of your life go."

Hiei visibly flinched.

"I know I have to," he replied awkwardly, looking away.

Kurama stepped in, his gaze hardening. Focusing in on Yukina, hoping that she still remembered all the sign language he taught her, he signed, "We don't have time. We leave now." He cringed inside at the improper grammar, but he hadn't really taught Yukina conjunctions and whatnot.

Yukina got the message, however, and interpreted Kurama's motions to Hiei. Nodding reluctantly, Hiei got up.

"Let's get your things, Kurama. Yusuke is waiting."

---

Kurama tried not to look too amazed. He was in a plane. In first class, no less, but of course that wasn't too surprising seeing as he was traveling with the Jaganshi Hiei.

Settled in between Hiei and the window, he peered nervously at Hiei, before turning to look outside the window, watching endless fluffy clouds pass by. He was torn between excitement and nerves. He had never flown before. The redhead didn't feel any more fear than he would have on the Ferris wheel, and he was thankful for that. What if he was terrified of planes? That would've made things a lot more difficult. Not that he could imagine himself being terrified of well, anything. Except perhaps watching Hiei die. Or his mother. He pictured Yusuke, spread-eagled on the floor with his eyes rolled back, a dribble of blood at the corner of his mouth... No. He shook his head violently.

Would we get there in time?

"Kurama."

What's all this deal about gems?

"Oi. Kurama."

Why was Hiei involved in ... in some sort of crime?

"Kurama," Hiei snapped, poking the redhead on the shoulder. Kurama jolted and turned to look at him. Realizing that they were mere inches apart from each others face, they both quickly turned to look right ahead.

"I wanted to know if you were alright," Hiei muttered. "I'm sorry this happened so suddenly, just when I thought you could come back."

Kurama wished Hiei was looking at him. Because, you know, it's kind of hard to have a conversation if someone's not look at you while you unsuccessfully try to speak.

"The company... after this, I can't be certain of its future."

Mustering all his courage... and also peeking over to make sure Yukina wasn't looking (although she did look like she was listening rather intently), he gently brushed the tips of his fingers against Hiei's elbow. The millionaire tensed up visibly at first, then relaxed. A small wave of calm washed over him, although he still looked apologetic when he finally faced Kurama.

"I know I offered you your job back, but right now..."

Kurama shook his head firmly, and patted him lightly on the elbow, whilst giving him a small smile.

"I take that to mean that you don't really mind?"

A nod.

"So you're coming back because of m - because of us?"

A slight grin at the falter. Another nod.

"Then why did you leave in the first place," Hiei groused, scowling. Kurama jerked his hand away, appalled that Hiei would say such a thing. He knew why! How could he -

Kurama's indignant expression disappeared as he realized Hiei was grinning. A rather feral grin, with traces of worry lines on his face... but a grin nevertheless. Kurama was astounded.

"You know I don't really blame you," he said, stretching like a cat on the first-class seat.

"Oniisan," Yukina cut in neatly, "Are you really going to give up all the gems?"

"Yes."

"You're sure you don't want to keep any gems for yourself?"

"...Yes."

"But what if you lose your company too? You will have nothing," Yukina persisted.

"I won't have nothing," Hiei said crossly, thinking of her and Kurama. "I thought you disapproved of the gems anyway."

"Of course. But you built your company on them."

Kurama made an odd noise, distracting the two from their conversation.

"What is it, Kurama?" Yukina asked, leaning forward to look at him.

"He probably wants to know about the gems," Hiei guessed, also turning to look at him for confirmation. Kurama nodded, a curious look on his face.

"Years ago after I ran from the last orphanage, I resorted to pick-pocketing to survive. Also to find a clue of where Yukina might be," Hiei began, folding his arms neatly. "I met Shigure, who I got into a fight with after pick-pocketing him and almost getting caught. I escaped, but he tracked me down eventually. Then... then he offered me a job. To help him steal over fifty gems recently excavated in an unknown location in Japan. The profits would be split evenly between him and I. One gem was worth at least five million yen. About equivalent to a 2-carat diamond, I think."

Hiei paused for a second, trying to sort out the order of events in his brain. Kurama, meanwhile, was trying to fathom the unfathomable number of one hundred million yen.

"These gems were rare. And there aren't any more of them, because of Shigure's blunder. The plan was for us to break in and steal the gems that were being kept in a safe in a rich, ruthless man's house, who also happened to be the man funding the excavation of these gems. Shigure hadn't anticipated guards in front of the safe, so he took them down, alerting the security at once. He had to flee. While making his escape, he accidentally killed the man who had discovered these gems. The location died with him. Meanwhile, I escaped with all of the gems."

"Because we were both wearing masks, he managed to flee and no one knew how he looked like or where to catch him. Or me. When Shigure finally caught up with me and demanded his share, I lied about it. There were about seventy gems in total. I told him there were only forty, and so I gave him twenty. I don't know what he did with the gems, but I sold a few gems for cash and invested here and there... eventually I had enough to start a small company and slowly expand. I couldn't start a big one straight up without looking suspicious. Where would all the money have come from? People would wonder."

"Shigure probably knew I lied. Once I entered the office to find everything in a mess, and I suspected him. He didn't manage to locate the safe that night, however. Then, using one of his minions, he staged a kidnapping and offered to help me rescue her in exchange for a few gems. And now, this is happening."

There was silence all around. Kurama was struggling to absorb all this information. A mini-Yusuke popped up in his mind, strutting around saying, "Gee, Hiei's spoken more today than he ever has in his entire life before this..." Vaguely amused, he fought to keep a smile from appearing on his face.

Hiei was speaking again. Kurama slapped away the mini-Yusuke, listening intently.

"If Shigure is caught, then it's only a matter of time before they come for me too. The gems are the only proof. If I give them all to him, then I'll be safe."

"But if your company dies because of this, then - "

"It's okay, Yukina. I sold off a few, remember? I still have cash and other properties. It's fine. We aren't living that extravagantly anyway."

"Cabin crew, please prepare for landing," The crackle of the microphone interrupted them.

"I know of the safe in your office," murmured Yukina, "But I didn't know you had more stashed away here. Where are they?"

Hiei merely shrugged and said, "You'll see."

TBC

---

A huge flaw in this story is HOW THE HECK DID HIEI BREAK INTO THE SAFE? I'm not answering that, because I don't know. He has HIEI SKILLZ. Lol. Sorry :/

For story purposes, and because I'm rushing this chapter, I really don't know how long it is for a flight from Tokyo to ... whereever it is Hiei was going, and I had the name of the city/town and everything, and I swear I researched it but I can't find those notes anymore. So I'm making it about an hour an a half flight, adding to that waiting time and retrieving the gems and everything, Hiei should have enough time to reach Shigure and hand over the gems.

Also, I've been looking everywhere for a picture of the tear gems... I'm pretty sure they are a perfect sphere, no? Can anyone help me confirm this?

Also, also, you don't "excavate" gems, right? I was searching for the right word in my head but I couldn't come up with anything else. It seems weird some how. Digging for gems? Erm?

Please take the time to review! THIS IS THE SECOND LAST CHAPTER. T.T