So I always see stories up about Kurama (youko) and his "slaves". Well... I wanted Hiei in a similar situation. So I wrote this!
Hiei had been sitting on a tree branch, napping. The bug had paused for a while, and he thought he'd take a break from dealing with Mukuro's men, from dealing with foolish humans who found themselves lost in Makai. Of course, he might need to consider changing his habits, because now Mukuro was standing just underneath the tree, and he could tell by her tone that she'd come here to bother him with something stupid.
"Hiei, I need you to come with me," she repeated, and to clarify, she added, "I need you to see something."
He sighed, jumped down from the tree, and followed her back to the bug. For a fleeting second he thought about just vanishing, heading to a different tree. But then, she'd probably notice. Besides, she was being so mysterious that he was curious.
They walked through the main entrance, two right turns down the hallway lead them to a room. It was basically an interrogation room, but on some occasions it also functioned as a room some of the demons hung out in. Hiei had seen it once before, the room just contained a table and a few chairs, which made it pretty versatile as far as purposes went. Mukuro stopped in front of the door.
"I don't normally go for this sort of thing, but when we were skirting the boarder of Gandara, some officials from Yomi's old court dropped this guy here. I wasn't planning on telling anyone… but, he needs someone to look after him."
Hiei snorted. "I'm not a babysitter. Why don't you do it?"
"Because I think it will be good for you. Consider it a test," she said, tossing him the key.
"What if I don't care for a test at the moment?"
She smiled. Hiei noted that it was not a pleasant smile. "Then consider it an order." She said.
They stood in silence for ten seconds, long enough for Hiei to figure out she was serious, and she wasn't going to leave until he opened the door. Which meant he couldn't leave either. He suppressed a sigh of annoyance, because he knew it would piss her off, and unlocked the door, heading inside.
What he found was a boy, curled up in the corner of the room on the floor. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and his head was tucked in, so Hiei couldn't see too much of him except a mass of brown, shaggy hair. What he could see was covered in injuries of all sorts. Scratches and bruises marred his skin. He had a tail, which looked like it was supposed to have hair on it but instead was hairless with the exception of a tiny tuft of fur on the very end. He looked back at Mukuro with a raised eyebrow, silently asking What the fuck am I supposed to do with this? She reached in, grabbed the door handle, and pulled it closed. He heard her footsteps walking away.
Now Hiei didn't need to suppress the irritated sigh. He looked down on the boy. He thought he looked pathetic. "What are you doing on the floor?" he asked.
The boy flinched.
Hiei walked over and squatted down in front of the boy. "Pick up your head," he said.
Now the boy was shaking. Hiei didn't feel guilty about much, particularly terrifying people. In the past, he'd thoroughly enjoyed scaring others. For some reason though, this made him feel guilty. He didn't like the idea of someone so defenseless being so scared of him. He hadn't even done anything yet.
He sighed, "I can't talk to you if you won't even look at me, can I? I won't hurt you, just pick up your head."
The boy slowly brought his head up and looked up at Hiei. He had violet eyes, which were glittering with tears and had a wary look in them. His face looked just as bad as the rest of him. He had cuts on his left cheek and forehead, as well as a bruise and which stretched from his left eye all the way to the cut on his cheek. Hiei thought of several questions he wanted to ask, most notably, where he got so beat up, but he figured he should start simple.
"What's your name?"
He stared for a minute before answering, "Koji," he said.
"Mukuro told me she found you near Gandara," Hiei said.
"Who's Mukuro?"
"She's the one with the bandages over half of her face. She's the ruler here," Hiei said, thinking it odd that the kid didn't know of her. Most demons, at the very least, knew her name.
Koji nodded in recognition. "I um, am from Gandara. Sort of," he said.
Hiei decided that meant that Gandara was where his old master was. "Were you a slave?"
Koji nodded.
Hiei considered this boy in front of him. Did Mukuro intend to keep him as a slave? She never made an effort to free the weak ones. They'd run into slave masters before, and she simply ignored them. He had expected more empathy on her part, and had told her so. Her response was "I'd free them if they acted like they wanted freedom." On the other hand, she didn't keep slaves either. She employed free men only.
So what to do with the kid?
Hiei didn't particularly want a slave. What on earth was he going to do with one? Especially a weak one like this boy. Yet, Mukuro had passed this boy onto him. He decided to start with a pragmatic approach.
"We need to tend to your injuries," he said, "come on, get up, I'll take you to the medical wing." Hiei stood up and walked to the door, not looking to see if the kid had followed him. When he got halfway down the hallway and hadn't heard footsteps, or felt any youki to speak of, he was concerned that maybe the kid hadn't followed him. He paused and turned around only to find the kid trailing behind him, silently. His aura was covered up too, so as not to be noticed. It alarmed Hiei slightly that another demon, clearly not nearly as strong as him, was able to follow behind him so quietly, without his notice. He had his head down and was looking at the floor, but he stopped walking when Hiei did. Hiei looked over him and could tell that this kid was watching his every move. He turned away and kept walking.
They made it to the medical wing of the bug. Hiei had spent the rest of the walk studying his shadow's footfalls, and was now able to pick out the very faint footsteps if he listened closely. He pushed open the door to the main medical office. He didn't recognize the doctor on staff, but it wasn't Shigure, so the kid had that going for him. The doctor looked up at their entrance.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I need you to take care of this kid for me," Hiei said, gesturing to Koji, who was hunched behind Hiei, trying not to be noticed.
"I see. Have him sit down, I need to finish up with my current patient," he said, gesturing to the bleeding man on the table. He looked like he'd lost a couple of limbs.
Hiei turned to Koji, "Go ahead and take a seat on the bed here," he said.
Koji reluctantly did so. Hesitantly, and slowly, he walked out from behind Hiei and sat on the bed. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, listening to the doctor check other patients in the room, Hiei suddenly noticed that Koji's hands were trembling. His arms were tense, as if he were trying to prevent the shaking from climbing upwards. He also looked sheet white.
"Are you afraid of doctors?" Hiei asked, not understanding where this fear was coming from.
Koji shrugged.
"Then what is it?"
"I just…" Koji's voice cracked a little. His eyes were wide, unblinking, trying to keep tears from falling out.
Hiei looked the kid up and down, surprised by the level of fear ingrained in him. "Why don't you just try to relax? Nothing's going to happen to you here."
Koji just looked down at his hands, as if he were going to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. His hands clenched into fists. Hiei just stood and watched as various emotions played over the kid's face. He then moved to stand beside the table with his arms crossed, waiting for the doctor. He had an unexpected desire to make Koji feel better, but not knowing exactly what to say, he opted to stay quiet instead.
And that was how the physical went. Silent, with Koji trying very hard not to cry every time the doctor examined a cut. Eventually Koji stopped shaking, his nerves being replaced by exhaustion. Dark circles were beginning to show under his eyes. Hiei found himself feeling relieved that the kid's nerves had finally worn off. For some reason being around that much nervous energy was making him jumpy. When the doctor finally finished, Hiei wandered around the bug trying to find a place to stick the kid. Then he was going to go ask Mukuro what the hell she was thinking.