October 29, 2005

Friendship: Born Out of
A Silent Respect

Scornful red eyes watched as the bumbling fool and the former Spirit Detective wrestled it out. Hiei scowled. If this was what they called "friendship" then he wanted no part of it. Watching passively on the couch, the old hag and the idiot's sister sat in companionable silence, each smoking their own fags. In a separate chair sat the fox, seemingly oblivious to the ruckus around him as he read from his book.

Ah, the fox. He was an ally of sorts, comrade at the least, companion at best. Of all the humans and part humans Hiei knew, the ex-thief was the only character even close to tolerable.

"Hiei, it's cold outside. Why don't you come inside?"

Red met red as Hiei looked down at his half-twin-sister looking up at him from the foot of the tree. She had the most innocent eyes and an expression of pure concern on her face. Of course, she didn't know they were related. He could never tell her.

Most assumed it was because he was afraid of rejection, that he was afraid Yukina would hate him. Sure, he felt he didn't deserve such a sibling, but he also knew better than to assume the Koorime could have survived alone in the Makai without seeing some sort of bloodshed.

No, the main reason he didn't tell the young Ice Maiden was because of the promise he had made to the one who had implanted his Jagan Eye. His honor code was so thick that even after the debt was lifted at the man's defeat, Hiei still refused to go back on his word. A deal was a deal after all.

"Hn." A grunt and he dropped from where he stood perched in the tree. His landing hardly made a sound, though it left a depression in the snow.

Without another word he obeyed his sister's wishes and entered the temple, once again scowling at the wrestling humans. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes with his arms crossed.

He appeared quite asleep to the casual passerby, but in reality he sensed all that went on around him. His hearing was so sharp he could hear his sister breathing in the adjacent kitchen, even over all the ruckus the humans boys were making. And still, without his hearing, Hiei could still track with his spirit energy sense just as easily as with sight.

He listened as Yusuke once again beat Kuwabara up on that contraption they called video games. Hn, of course Yusuke would win; he had better reflexes. The ex-Spirit Detective as only partially human to tell the truth, trace amounts of demon blood making the boy an accomplished fighter.

Of course, the boy was loud and obnoxious, but his fighting skills were quite impressive, as was proven when he beat Hiei the first time with a spontaneous and almost baseless tactic. Who would have ever thought that spirit energy could be reflected, much less that the juvenile delinquent would do it. Then again, the punk tended to defy all expectations.

That was how he died in the first place, by unexpectedly saving a boy from an oncoming car that would have simply swerved to the left and missed the kid in the first place. This unforeseen mistake led to the awakening of Yusuke's demon blood and his appointment as Spirit Detective.

Hiei had to admit, had Yusuke not provided him a challenge, he himself wouldn't be as strong as he was today. He had been upset before that on the toddler's ranking scale he was considered only a B class demon, under that of the A and S class. But he couldn't ignore the fact that before his encounter with the Detective, he had been a mere D class.

It had taken a while for this fact to really ease his damaged pride, but it did eventually and he rejoined the effort against Sensui just in time to save Yusuke from having to kill that human, Sniper. That in itself had been an uncharacteristic act of compassion, the fact that he let the human live. And to save the ex-Detective had shown more compassion than he cared to admit.

"I was worried about the trees."

It was a valid excuse. The red-eyed demon did love to stand on the tree tops. One must speculate that he didn't do so simply to be taller. A feeling he wouldn't have experienced otherwise. And indeed, had the battle between Yusuke and Sniper continued, many more innocent trees would have fallen prey to their crossfire.

After that incident, he had turned around and attacked the ex-Detective as well when the exhausted teenager made to further overextend himself by chasing after the enemy. His exhaustion was evidenced in his easily being caught with his guard down at Hiei's surprise attack.

"…Somehow I doubt this Sensui will be as merciful as I."

"I have to go save Kuwabara."

"Kuwabara was ill prepared, and see where that got him."

"Shut up!"

"Do I have to kill you to keep you from being foolish?"

"You just might, Hiei."

"It's been a long time since we last fought."

Perhaps with that last statement he was reassessing their progress. Testing how much both of them had increased in strength. At least this was what Yusuke determined at the end of the fight.

In reality, Hiei's objective was to remind Yusuke of his limitations. To reach his full potential, emotional distress was required. The previous adversary had provided that stress. Sensui simply wanted him dead. In his fight with Yusuke he hoped to remind him of many things. But that simple fact was the main objective. If anything, he should remember that lesson.

"…go, save the human world…I don't really care. Either way, I'm fine with the outcome."

At this Yusuke had laughed.

"What are you laughing about," it was a question, but it sounded more like a demand than anything else.

"You're so full of crap. 'I don't care.' You been rootin' for me. Did all this to help me survive," the words came out accompanied with restrained snickering "I told the rest of them you'd come back to rescue us when we needed you the most you big softy." With this revelation, Hiei was asked to join in the battle against Sensui. "Listen, what I'm trying to say is that I could really use your help with this one. Kuwabara could really use your help."

"But I hate Kuwabara." He had begun walking off, muttering as he went. "You do them one favor and they think you're their best friend. This is why I could care less if their entire species was swallowed up."

Back in the present, Hiei opened his eyes again to watch yet another meaningless brawl. Eventually, with a bit of compensation, Hiei had been convinced to help. And it was this understanding that he would never perform a compassionate act without a valid excuse that Yusuke earned his unspoken respect. And with that, one other bond.

Friendship.

Disclaimer: Characters originate from the story of Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. Portrayal of Hiei intended as a part of the Unmaskings. Dialogue pulled from the dub.