One Light On
By Keo Siph
Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Togashi Yoshihiro/Sheisha, Fuji TV, Pierrot, and FUNimation.
Warnings: One-shot, Non-yaoi
Roughly-edged bark dug through well-used cloth into the demon's back, a feeling that most would wince away from. Hiei, though, sunk into it, content that something was still familiar. The same piece of bark had been there for the last few years, in the exact tree on the right branch that he slept upon nightly. Ignoring the fact that habit was a tactical error in itself, the view was nice in more than one way. Hiei's gaze lifted, black tendrils of his 'do that could be mistaken for a mop fell as obstructions to the sight, but he didn't bother with them yet.
There were lights everywhere as the humans tainted the night sky with their artificial life and song-singers, as the reikai beings called the stars. Yet, from here… From here there was Genkai's temple and Kuwabara's house, both places the precious ice had lived in, and the rivalrous half-demon's apartment complex in the same line of sight. Hiei could see it all in a single glance. Kurama's house where Suuichi Minamino dwelled was only a tilt away, but that took Genkai's temple from the picture. A small mark against it, none of the other trees were as unobscured, but far enough back to see it all, so Hiei chose this rather than wasting energy to see through trees with his Jagan.
Always lights! All those people going every-which way making all that noise! But, that was the human world for you. Eternally worthless and useful all in a single bound. Hiei despised the whole arrangement, but had retracted his dire hatred of the race to a point where he didn't flinch towards their throats when he passed them by.
In the Makai, it was always dark, always gray. In the ningenkai, it was never either, except in the rain. Even then, there were blues and multiple hues of green that the sparkling tears of angels and djinns brought out from the plant life. The tree Hiei had claimed took on a sea-blue color, ignoring the photosynthesis-green that was what made the plants so well known and the leaves so obvious to the naked eye.
It had always been dark and dreary. Now it was fast-paced and blinding. There were times when Hiei preferred the former, but knew he'd miss the latter if he left. Thus, he stayed. If nothing else, the trouble-inducing red plant was here, the ice was here, the rival was here, the epitome of stupidity was here, and the one in charge wanted him here.
That last part wasn't important anymore.
He could have left, he could have embraced the darkness (for, as Kurama had once joked, "Come to the dark side. We have cookies!") and turned out all his lights. Hiei snickered as his thoughts trailed on this. Most humans left lights on due to their fear and cowardice. He couldn't turn the lights on or off, so what did that make him? Yusuke would most likely call him comatose, now that he had entered medical school. Keiko and the girls would shake their heads, the kitsune would say that Hiei was strong for not dousing every light in the neighborhood nightly, as great a temptation as that was, and the boy he was destined to be related to would call Hiei a coward anyways.
He noticed they all complained of dreams when the lights were completely dark in their closed off little homes. This in itself was stupid. First, they lived in boxes. What sort of an idiot would live in a box, besides a mouse? Next, they let light change their minds. The lights infused with their dreams and hit chords that changed their lives. Then, they were cut off from the world that was living around them. They'd all kill each other that way, and nothing would get done at all. If you're going to waste a life being incarnated as a social animal, don't act like a demon. If you were a demon, you'd know. Otherwise, give in and stay with the people.
Yet… They turned off lights to sleep. Others turned them on to sleep. Other people slept either way, not a sing switch hit. Urameshi loved this last one. But the others…
Hiei hit no switches, and did not dictate the sun. He slept when it was needed, and preferred darkness for its inevitable cloak. Even so…
All that light…
Hiei smiled as he wrapped his cloak closer at the stroke of midnight, and as the lights down the street started to go out.
He would always have them. He would always be partly human, after this ordeal with the ningenkai. He would always be tied with the ice that cried gems, and the fox that grew roots. They weren't leaving, but the rain was arriving.
A crash sounded overhead, bouncing down the streets.
Rain began to trickle down the leaves, dripping down his nose and into his flesh.
Hiei slept with all the lights off.
And one light on.