AN: I've never seen the episode that (if there even is one) explained
Hiei's life in the Makai, so I had to make that part up. His charactor may
seem OOC, but there are reasons. My thought: he couldn't have been born
like that. For such a personality, something has to shake him up. That's
exactly what I'm trying to do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hiei or Yu Yu Hakuso. The charactors I do own are
pretty obvious. My computer has NO spell check right now, so if there are
grammer/spelling errors, I apologize.
His arms and legs flailed wildly as he ran, partly because he'd only been taught to run for speed, not style, and partly because he was fighting puberty and weariness to stay ahead of the pack. That's exactly what they were, a pack of rabid wolves caring not for what their prey had done but what they were. Spirit detectives, he had learned after his first encounter with them from Jen, only cared about spilling demon blood and doing whatever it took to do that. If he ever so much as broke his stride, he'd be dragged back in an instant to face a horrible death. Jen swore he had seen it done, and Hiei was in no position to argue.
Bullets whizzed by his head and feet, forcing tears long held back of fear down his cheeks. He tried his best to wipe them away, without much success. He couldn't cry, he screamed at himself, no matter what. By the age of eight, the lesson had been pounded into him. Sniffling once or twice, he stopped the pathetic sign of youth and threw the remaining tear gems back at the enemy's faces.
He hit one, forcing the human to stop his pursuit and nurse his bleeding eye. Jen looked back at him from the front, giving him a nearly completely druged grin of approval. Hiei beamed at the compliment, his strides shortening roughly an inch.
That was all the detectives needed. He was tackled and pinned to the ground by four men over twice his size and weight. He cried out for help, but the gang kept running. The remaining detectives hadn't stopped because of a casualty, so neither could his team mates.
When he began to struggle, a detective hit him over the head with a fallen branch; Hiei was knocked out instantly. Celebrating over the victory, the men dragged him back to base.
*****
Hiei'd never been sent to a school, in fact the closest thing he'd been in was a preschool where one of the teachers owed Jen some money. He'd taken one look at construction paper butterflies and the trees made from crayon decorating the windows and white-washed walls, and hated it. How the hell would knowing how to use a glue stick ever help him get anything he needed? Believing this to be all of education, Hiei never developed an intrest in going to school.
So he remained illiterate and unable to write outside of his and twenty other bogus names. But he did know what was important, according to Jen. He knew how to use a katana, where and when to go when you needed to run, what herbs could heal and kill what, how to stay confident infront of cops and detectives and of course, what to drink when your concience made an unwanted apperance and what to make the morning afterward to take the reminder away.
Jen'd taught him well. Hiei sat in the unconfortable wooden chair placed in the corner of the small, concrete room and glared at his captures with a tight lipped scowl. He hadn't said a word, though they had threatened him quite a bit.
The detectives had hung up their hats for the night after failing at interigating him for his team mates, tying their week's work to the chair and then wandering to the light of the single lightbulb hanging at the other end of the room. In the circle of light, a gracious supply of liquor awaited them upon the only table. They now sat around it, smoking cigarettes like chimmneys and swinging bottles of whiskey and voldka about. When all but one bottle of liquor had been dumped from the bottles into either their mouths or more often splashed upon the table, floor and Hiei, they became bored and quieted down.
Hiei was releaved for a second when their supply was drained until their sights turned to him. The detectives snickered a bit, walking over coolly and surrounding him. One stuck his face in Hiei's, glaring at him with glazed-over eyes. Hiei gagged upon the heavy scent of alcohal lacing already foul breath.
"Poor lil' bastard. At least, you'll die knowin' ya us gave a good chase. Sadly for ya, it wasn' good 'nough," the first cooed, running his gigantic fingers through the demon's short hair. Hiei tried to bite his hand, making the drunks explode in greasy laughter. "Yer a fighter, kid. I like that. Maybe if ya'd been born a human 'stead of a dem'n, ya woulda made a spirit detective." Around the circle, a few nodded. The rest stood stone faced, waiting for whatever would happen to happen. The first took the final bottle of voldka, took a long swig and then pouring the rest on Hiei's chest and lap. "Too bad ya have ta die. See you in hell, bastard." One snatched up Hiei's wrist and the other snapped a pocket knife into position. Hiei spat at the first detective's eye. "Do it," the first ordered, wiping the insult out of his eye. The two brought the blade to the demon's wrist and the detectives let out a booming, liquory laugh.
Hiei would have bled to death then and there, tied to the chair in an abandoned office of an overworked drone had it not been for a stroke of luck.
The leader of the spirit detectives burst through the door, letting it slam against the wall to proclaim his entrance. The other detectives scattered in panic, forming a neat path to Hiei. The leader scowled at the first through a cigarette.
"How many times do I need to tell you, don't start the fun without me?" the leader snarled gruffly. The first murmmered a responce, trying to find a way out.
"I'm sorry, Shinji (AN: yes, that was taken rather shamelessly from Evangallion ^^). You know how fast me n' the guys get. It was only spur of the moment. We just..." he babbled on. Shinji sniffed once, eyeing the mountian of empty liquor bottles knowingly.
"Ya just got drunk." The first detective nodded sheepishly, his shoes suddently becoming extreemly interesting; the others watched Hiei as if he might escape. Shinji went on in a firey rant about irrisponsibility, becoming so caught up in it he didn't sence the spirit engery creeping up. They might not have, but Hiei did. With the faint oder of blood and a joint that'd just been finished, it could only be Jen. Hiei's lips twitched a bit; Jen was coming to save him.
Shinji stopped midsentance, looking like a wolf who'd just caught the scent of his pray. "Spread and search. There's another in here." The detectives followed the orders willingly, abandoning Hiei without a thought. Shinji looked back for a second before following his men.
"All clear," Hiei whispered, not even bothering to look back to see if his call was responded to. He could hear well enough as the drug skinny demon wriggled out of the air vent and lept down behind him. Immediatly, Jen set to work on the knots.
"You missed a good run, Hiei. Kensuke led them through a patch of snatchers so we could get out. It was great, they weren't expecting anything and then POW! It was kick ass," Jen went on to Hiei, working his blue digits over the rope. Hiei leaned his head back and smiled up at the leader of the thieves.
"Did ya miss me?" He smiled at the demon who he'd taken on being a father figure for. Jen gave him a patented half-smirk.
"Yeah." Hiei was satisfied, resting his head against Jen't bare arm. The older demon chuckled as the ropes fell off. Hiei was just celebrating his freedom by shaking his arms out when Shinji decided to come back into the room. The detective had been waiting in the hall for his time. He smiled confidently at them, his hands dug deeply into the pockets of a worn, brown trench coat. He pulled a gun out, cocking it noisily.
"I thought you'd be back," Shinji smiled. "Tell me, demon. Where did you find the kid? He's quite...interesting for his age," Shinji asked as sincerely as he could. Jen stepped infront of Hiei, unsheething his katana. Shinji shook his head. "Now now, demon. No need to get defensive. I'm only asking a friendly question, I'd like an answer." Hiei gaped as Jen nodded re-sheethed the sword. Jen shot him a look, shutting the child's mouth.
"Won him in a poker game," Jen laughed, ruffling Hiei's hair. The child ducked his head awaym the two men smiling. "You think someone would have a decent hand before they put their son on the table." It was painfully obvious Shinji wasn't buying it and even more that Jen had never expected him to. Jen smiled, his mind churning away. "You speak rather highly of a demon, detective. Now I admit you he has potential, but why the hell would a human such as yourself mention it?" Shinji chuckled.
"I feel a bit sorry for you, demon. You can't see kindness without believing there would be betrayl in it." He shrugged his overly muscular sholders. "To bad the last human you'll ever see won't change your mind." He pointed the gun at Jen's head. "Goodbye."
"Hm." Jen smirked at Shinji and lept to the ceiling. In the blink of a human eye, Jen had landed behind him and had his blade at the detective's throat. With a surprisingly powerful scrawny arm wrapped around his chest, Shinji was trapped. "Do you still feel sorry for me, you son of a bitch? I do for you," Jen laughed, his eyes gleaming in the dim light. Shinji gulped, a thin trail of blood slowly running down his throat. "Now, you didn't hurt him, so I'll let you live. Don't make me regret my sympathy." Jen sheethed his katana. "Come on, Hiei. Ring's probubly got dinner ready by now."
Shinji rubbed the cut on his throat as he watched Hiei trot past him and after Jen. "Don't touch them," he shouted to the detectives. They blinked, looking from Jen to each other questioningly as he passed them. Jen placed his arm around Hiei's sholder, content with how it had gone.
It was only after the two demons departed through the glass doors and took off into the forest that the humans began to complain. They detectives screaned at Shinji that they could have killed them easily. They leader simply shook his powerful head.
"It's not time to do anything but fall back and re-group. You'll get your chance," he told them, continuing to rub his thoat.
*****
"He-ey, Jen came through!" Kensuke cheered, slapping Hiei on the back. The demon sniffed his hand and then burried his face into the child's shirt and breathed in deeply. When he removed it, he was frowning. "Alcohal, the cheap stuff to. My guess, they were going to burn the body and get rid of the evidence. I suppouse they couldn't figure out he was a fire demon." Kensuke had been the only member of the thieves to get an education through his junior year of High School. He was always the one they turned to for such an answer. Lefty raised the single eyebrow over his left eye, unimpressed.
"You're over estimating your enemy again," the demon called from where he perched upon a thick tree branch. "They aren't psycics, they're only some freakish humans who somehow got spirit engergy." Kensuke snorted.
"And you're underestimating them. These guys are seasoned, they know what's going on. That's the only reason they're trying to get demons like us," Kensuke snapped, standing up to defend himself. Nao jumped from the tree branch, beconing Kensuke to fight with a shake of his head.
"Both of you shut the hell up, you're giving me a headache. Now, for your information, I did see a lighter there. I don't know if they would have used it, but we do know they could have. The barbarions." Jen spit out the last word. Four of the five thieves grunted in agreement.
"So, what are we going to do?" Lefty asked, lazily playing with his throwing star. Jen shot a glare around to each one of the thieves.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. We're safe out here, for now. If we make the first move, any and all casualties will be our fault. I refuse to have that blood on my hands, and you should feel the same. Do we not have honor? Are we barbarions? Are we human?" Jen was shouting by the point he finished, the thieves around him cheering.
Jen had been the commander of a demon army before he'd come to the gang, and could rally troops better than anyone else in the Makai forrest. He was honorable discharged when his left ear was rendered deaf by an enemy attack. Jen, depresed and desprate, switched to theivery and rose to leader quickly with the skills the military had taught him. He'd once had a powerful gang, enough to rival the army he'd once held. But after a vicious battle, he was down to the five of them. No matter, he still spoke with the same fire he always had.
With a smile down at Hiei for a second, his tone became serious. "Now, let's eat and get to bed. If they're going to attack in the morning, it would be best not to have a hangover. That means no wringing Hiei out." With a laugh and another cheer, the thieves retreated to the makeshift table constructed of rocks. Jen led Hiei to the river to wash up.
*****
Hiei sank into the ice cold water, shivering with great satisfaction. A ring of the greasy alcohal surrounded his as it came off his skin, glistening in the moonlight. Jen chuckled from the bank, scrubbing his 'son's' clothes.
"So what really happened?" Jen asked withough looking up. His white, slender ears twitched high above his down turned head. He was expecting a sneak attack, and was making no effort to hide it from Hiei. The fire demon could already sence it.
"They tied me to a chair, got drunk and splashed some alcohal on me. No style, really. They were just partying. When they got down to one bottle, they decided to kill me. Cut my wrists or something. That's when you came in." Hiei answered, scrubbing his arm with his hand.
"Cut your wrist huh?" Jen repeated, tasting the idea. He shrugged and continued to wash the clothes. "Never heard of it, but there may be something to it for a human." He held up the black cloak, frowned and dunked it back into the water.
Hiei sunk down to his chin. "He's going to come back and kill you, isn't he?" Jen sighed, running his tounge over his teeth like he did with every ticklish situation.
"He's going to try," Jen answered simply, closing his eyes and sighing. The older demon hid behind the bangs he'd dyed platinum blonde. His ears were twitching more than ever.
"Will you come out of it?" Hiei asked. Jen shrugged, scrubbing the clothes more furiously. "If you do, what'll happen?" Jen looked up, blinking.
"What do you mean, what'll happen?" Hiei scrubbed his fingers through his hair, dunking the mane into the water.
"Exactly what I said. You can't do this forever, none of us can." Jen smirked as he lifted the cloak out once again. Water poured down, soaking him, but he seemed satisfied. The cloak was hung upon a tree branch. Jen moved onto the trousers.
"My, what an inquisitive little child I've raised," the older demon chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, I was planing on making this my last battle. I may not look it, but I'm getting rather old for this line of work. I was going to give the gang to Kensuke, I like the way he thinks. We'd all be dead if we were with Nao." He sighed, his tounge running over his teeth again. "After that, I'm going to go out and find the Jagan; it's suppoused to be about twenty miles East. You've heard of it, haven't you?" Hiei nodded silently. "I thought I saw you that night." The child didn't say a word.
After I find it, I'm going after the detective who murdered the gang. I've been tracking him for years now, so that shouldn't take to long. Then..." He lay back upon the grassy bank, starring up at the sky which peaked through the trees. "I'm going to get out of the whole thing; ya know, find out what I was really meant for. Maybe settle down, find a girl. Lord knows there's enough that I can choose from." He laughed a bit, gazing longingly at the few stars the leaves would allow through.
"What happens if what you were really meant to do was to lead the gang?" Jen thought for a second before sitting up and returning to scrubbing the pants.
"It's not right for you to be racking you brain with trivial things like that. It's not really that important." Hiei stood, the muddy water from his nose down to his stomach cascading to the river.
"Do you want to know what I'm going to do?" Jen stopped, blinking at Hiei.
"You've...you've already got it planned?" he stammered in awe. Most of the senior members hadn't even looked that far, and they were hundrads of years closer to their time than Hiei. The younger demon nodded.
"I'm going with you." Jen looked down for a second before shaking his head.
"Hiei, you can't go with me. You've got a life here and..." Hiei stared at him. "Hiei, if you did follow me, what would you do? I'm getting on in years, you know. A hundrad, maybe two more if I'm lucky. But I've pissed so many guys off, I might be dead the second I leave the gang. What'll happen after that?"
"You're not going to die for a while, Jen. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Hiei told him with all seriousness. Jen shook his head, rubbing his hands furiously across the material.
"You're one in a million, Hiei, did I ever tell you that?" Hiei nodded and sank back down to his nose.
His arms and legs flailed wildly as he ran, partly because he'd only been taught to run for speed, not style, and partly because he was fighting puberty and weariness to stay ahead of the pack. That's exactly what they were, a pack of rabid wolves caring not for what their prey had done but what they were. Spirit detectives, he had learned after his first encounter with them from Jen, only cared about spilling demon blood and doing whatever it took to do that. If he ever so much as broke his stride, he'd be dragged back in an instant to face a horrible death. Jen swore he had seen it done, and Hiei was in no position to argue.
Bullets whizzed by his head and feet, forcing tears long held back of fear down his cheeks. He tried his best to wipe them away, without much success. He couldn't cry, he screamed at himself, no matter what. By the age of eight, the lesson had been pounded into him. Sniffling once or twice, he stopped the pathetic sign of youth and threw the remaining tear gems back at the enemy's faces.
He hit one, forcing the human to stop his pursuit and nurse his bleeding eye. Jen looked back at him from the front, giving him a nearly completely druged grin of approval. Hiei beamed at the compliment, his strides shortening roughly an inch.
That was all the detectives needed. He was tackled and pinned to the ground by four men over twice his size and weight. He cried out for help, but the gang kept running. The remaining detectives hadn't stopped because of a casualty, so neither could his team mates.
When he began to struggle, a detective hit him over the head with a fallen branch; Hiei was knocked out instantly. Celebrating over the victory, the men dragged him back to base.
*****
Hiei'd never been sent to a school, in fact the closest thing he'd been in was a preschool where one of the teachers owed Jen some money. He'd taken one look at construction paper butterflies and the trees made from crayon decorating the windows and white-washed walls, and hated it. How the hell would knowing how to use a glue stick ever help him get anything he needed? Believing this to be all of education, Hiei never developed an intrest in going to school.
So he remained illiterate and unable to write outside of his and twenty other bogus names. But he did know what was important, according to Jen. He knew how to use a katana, where and when to go when you needed to run, what herbs could heal and kill what, how to stay confident infront of cops and detectives and of course, what to drink when your concience made an unwanted apperance and what to make the morning afterward to take the reminder away.
Jen'd taught him well. Hiei sat in the unconfortable wooden chair placed in the corner of the small, concrete room and glared at his captures with a tight lipped scowl. He hadn't said a word, though they had threatened him quite a bit.
The detectives had hung up their hats for the night after failing at interigating him for his team mates, tying their week's work to the chair and then wandering to the light of the single lightbulb hanging at the other end of the room. In the circle of light, a gracious supply of liquor awaited them upon the only table. They now sat around it, smoking cigarettes like chimmneys and swinging bottles of whiskey and voldka about. When all but one bottle of liquor had been dumped from the bottles into either their mouths or more often splashed upon the table, floor and Hiei, they became bored and quieted down.
Hiei was releaved for a second when their supply was drained until their sights turned to him. The detectives snickered a bit, walking over coolly and surrounding him. One stuck his face in Hiei's, glaring at him with glazed-over eyes. Hiei gagged upon the heavy scent of alcohal lacing already foul breath.
"Poor lil' bastard. At least, you'll die knowin' ya us gave a good chase. Sadly for ya, it wasn' good 'nough," the first cooed, running his gigantic fingers through the demon's short hair. Hiei tried to bite his hand, making the drunks explode in greasy laughter. "Yer a fighter, kid. I like that. Maybe if ya'd been born a human 'stead of a dem'n, ya woulda made a spirit detective." Around the circle, a few nodded. The rest stood stone faced, waiting for whatever would happen to happen. The first took the final bottle of voldka, took a long swig and then pouring the rest on Hiei's chest and lap. "Too bad ya have ta die. See you in hell, bastard." One snatched up Hiei's wrist and the other snapped a pocket knife into position. Hiei spat at the first detective's eye. "Do it," the first ordered, wiping the insult out of his eye. The two brought the blade to the demon's wrist and the detectives let out a booming, liquory laugh.
Hiei would have bled to death then and there, tied to the chair in an abandoned office of an overworked drone had it not been for a stroke of luck.
The leader of the spirit detectives burst through the door, letting it slam against the wall to proclaim his entrance. The other detectives scattered in panic, forming a neat path to Hiei. The leader scowled at the first through a cigarette.
"How many times do I need to tell you, don't start the fun without me?" the leader snarled gruffly. The first murmmered a responce, trying to find a way out.
"I'm sorry, Shinji (AN: yes, that was taken rather shamelessly from Evangallion ^^). You know how fast me n' the guys get. It was only spur of the moment. We just..." he babbled on. Shinji sniffed once, eyeing the mountian of empty liquor bottles knowingly.
"Ya just got drunk." The first detective nodded sheepishly, his shoes suddently becoming extreemly interesting; the others watched Hiei as if he might escape. Shinji went on in a firey rant about irrisponsibility, becoming so caught up in it he didn't sence the spirit engery creeping up. They might not have, but Hiei did. With the faint oder of blood and a joint that'd just been finished, it could only be Jen. Hiei's lips twitched a bit; Jen was coming to save him.
Shinji stopped midsentance, looking like a wolf who'd just caught the scent of his pray. "Spread and search. There's another in here." The detectives followed the orders willingly, abandoning Hiei without a thought. Shinji looked back for a second before following his men.
"All clear," Hiei whispered, not even bothering to look back to see if his call was responded to. He could hear well enough as the drug skinny demon wriggled out of the air vent and lept down behind him. Immediatly, Jen set to work on the knots.
"You missed a good run, Hiei. Kensuke led them through a patch of snatchers so we could get out. It was great, they weren't expecting anything and then POW! It was kick ass," Jen went on to Hiei, working his blue digits over the rope. Hiei leaned his head back and smiled up at the leader of the thieves.
"Did ya miss me?" He smiled at the demon who he'd taken on being a father figure for. Jen gave him a patented half-smirk.
"Yeah." Hiei was satisfied, resting his head against Jen't bare arm. The older demon chuckled as the ropes fell off. Hiei was just celebrating his freedom by shaking his arms out when Shinji decided to come back into the room. The detective had been waiting in the hall for his time. He smiled confidently at them, his hands dug deeply into the pockets of a worn, brown trench coat. He pulled a gun out, cocking it noisily.
"I thought you'd be back," Shinji smiled. "Tell me, demon. Where did you find the kid? He's quite...interesting for his age," Shinji asked as sincerely as he could. Jen stepped infront of Hiei, unsheething his katana. Shinji shook his head. "Now now, demon. No need to get defensive. I'm only asking a friendly question, I'd like an answer." Hiei gaped as Jen nodded re-sheethed the sword. Jen shot him a look, shutting the child's mouth.
"Won him in a poker game," Jen laughed, ruffling Hiei's hair. The child ducked his head awaym the two men smiling. "You think someone would have a decent hand before they put their son on the table." It was painfully obvious Shinji wasn't buying it and even more that Jen had never expected him to. Jen smiled, his mind churning away. "You speak rather highly of a demon, detective. Now I admit you he has potential, but why the hell would a human such as yourself mention it?" Shinji chuckled.
"I feel a bit sorry for you, demon. You can't see kindness without believing there would be betrayl in it." He shrugged his overly muscular sholders. "To bad the last human you'll ever see won't change your mind." He pointed the gun at Jen's head. "Goodbye."
"Hm." Jen smirked at Shinji and lept to the ceiling. In the blink of a human eye, Jen had landed behind him and had his blade at the detective's throat. With a surprisingly powerful scrawny arm wrapped around his chest, Shinji was trapped. "Do you still feel sorry for me, you son of a bitch? I do for you," Jen laughed, his eyes gleaming in the dim light. Shinji gulped, a thin trail of blood slowly running down his throat. "Now, you didn't hurt him, so I'll let you live. Don't make me regret my sympathy." Jen sheethed his katana. "Come on, Hiei. Ring's probubly got dinner ready by now."
Shinji rubbed the cut on his throat as he watched Hiei trot past him and after Jen. "Don't touch them," he shouted to the detectives. They blinked, looking from Jen to each other questioningly as he passed them. Jen placed his arm around Hiei's sholder, content with how it had gone.
It was only after the two demons departed through the glass doors and took off into the forest that the humans began to complain. They detectives screaned at Shinji that they could have killed them easily. They leader simply shook his powerful head.
"It's not time to do anything but fall back and re-group. You'll get your chance," he told them, continuing to rub his thoat.
*****
"He-ey, Jen came through!" Kensuke cheered, slapping Hiei on the back. The demon sniffed his hand and then burried his face into the child's shirt and breathed in deeply. When he removed it, he was frowning. "Alcohal, the cheap stuff to. My guess, they were going to burn the body and get rid of the evidence. I suppouse they couldn't figure out he was a fire demon." Kensuke had been the only member of the thieves to get an education through his junior year of High School. He was always the one they turned to for such an answer. Lefty raised the single eyebrow over his left eye, unimpressed.
"You're over estimating your enemy again," the demon called from where he perched upon a thick tree branch. "They aren't psycics, they're only some freakish humans who somehow got spirit engergy." Kensuke snorted.
"And you're underestimating them. These guys are seasoned, they know what's going on. That's the only reason they're trying to get demons like us," Kensuke snapped, standing up to defend himself. Nao jumped from the tree branch, beconing Kensuke to fight with a shake of his head.
"Both of you shut the hell up, you're giving me a headache. Now, for your information, I did see a lighter there. I don't know if they would have used it, but we do know they could have. The barbarions." Jen spit out the last word. Four of the five thieves grunted in agreement.
"So, what are we going to do?" Lefty asked, lazily playing with his throwing star. Jen shot a glare around to each one of the thieves.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. We're safe out here, for now. If we make the first move, any and all casualties will be our fault. I refuse to have that blood on my hands, and you should feel the same. Do we not have honor? Are we barbarions? Are we human?" Jen was shouting by the point he finished, the thieves around him cheering.
Jen had been the commander of a demon army before he'd come to the gang, and could rally troops better than anyone else in the Makai forrest. He was honorable discharged when his left ear was rendered deaf by an enemy attack. Jen, depresed and desprate, switched to theivery and rose to leader quickly with the skills the military had taught him. He'd once had a powerful gang, enough to rival the army he'd once held. But after a vicious battle, he was down to the five of them. No matter, he still spoke with the same fire he always had.
With a smile down at Hiei for a second, his tone became serious. "Now, let's eat and get to bed. If they're going to attack in the morning, it would be best not to have a hangover. That means no wringing Hiei out." With a laugh and another cheer, the thieves retreated to the makeshift table constructed of rocks. Jen led Hiei to the river to wash up.
*****
Hiei sank into the ice cold water, shivering with great satisfaction. A ring of the greasy alcohal surrounded his as it came off his skin, glistening in the moonlight. Jen chuckled from the bank, scrubbing his 'son's' clothes.
"So what really happened?" Jen asked withough looking up. His white, slender ears twitched high above his down turned head. He was expecting a sneak attack, and was making no effort to hide it from Hiei. The fire demon could already sence it.
"They tied me to a chair, got drunk and splashed some alcohal on me. No style, really. They were just partying. When they got down to one bottle, they decided to kill me. Cut my wrists or something. That's when you came in." Hiei answered, scrubbing his arm with his hand.
"Cut your wrist huh?" Jen repeated, tasting the idea. He shrugged and continued to wash the clothes. "Never heard of it, but there may be something to it for a human." He held up the black cloak, frowned and dunked it back into the water.
Hiei sunk down to his chin. "He's going to come back and kill you, isn't he?" Jen sighed, running his tounge over his teeth like he did with every ticklish situation.
"He's going to try," Jen answered simply, closing his eyes and sighing. The older demon hid behind the bangs he'd dyed platinum blonde. His ears were twitching more than ever.
"Will you come out of it?" Hiei asked. Jen shrugged, scrubbing the clothes more furiously. "If you do, what'll happen?" Jen looked up, blinking.
"What do you mean, what'll happen?" Hiei scrubbed his fingers through his hair, dunking the mane into the water.
"Exactly what I said. You can't do this forever, none of us can." Jen smirked as he lifted the cloak out once again. Water poured down, soaking him, but he seemed satisfied. The cloak was hung upon a tree branch. Jen moved onto the trousers.
"My, what an inquisitive little child I've raised," the older demon chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, I was planing on making this my last battle. I may not look it, but I'm getting rather old for this line of work. I was going to give the gang to Kensuke, I like the way he thinks. We'd all be dead if we were with Nao." He sighed, his tounge running over his teeth again. "After that, I'm going to go out and find the Jagan; it's suppoused to be about twenty miles East. You've heard of it, haven't you?" Hiei nodded silently. "I thought I saw you that night." The child didn't say a word.
After I find it, I'm going after the detective who murdered the gang. I've been tracking him for years now, so that shouldn't take to long. Then..." He lay back upon the grassy bank, starring up at the sky which peaked through the trees. "I'm going to get out of the whole thing; ya know, find out what I was really meant for. Maybe settle down, find a girl. Lord knows there's enough that I can choose from." He laughed a bit, gazing longingly at the few stars the leaves would allow through.
"What happens if what you were really meant to do was to lead the gang?" Jen thought for a second before sitting up and returning to scrubbing the pants.
"It's not right for you to be racking you brain with trivial things like that. It's not really that important." Hiei stood, the muddy water from his nose down to his stomach cascading to the river.
"Do you want to know what I'm going to do?" Jen stopped, blinking at Hiei.
"You've...you've already got it planned?" he stammered in awe. Most of the senior members hadn't even looked that far, and they were hundrads of years closer to their time than Hiei. The younger demon nodded.
"I'm going with you." Jen looked down for a second before shaking his head.
"Hiei, you can't go with me. You've got a life here and..." Hiei stared at him. "Hiei, if you did follow me, what would you do? I'm getting on in years, you know. A hundrad, maybe two more if I'm lucky. But I've pissed so many guys off, I might be dead the second I leave the gang. What'll happen after that?"
"You're not going to die for a while, Jen. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Hiei told him with all seriousness. Jen shook his head, rubbing his hands furiously across the material.
"You're one in a million, Hiei, did I ever tell you that?" Hiei nodded and sank back down to his nose.