It never really sat well with me that Hina killed herself before she ever got a chance to meet her son, Hiei. I also always wondered what kind of man she met. Also in this story I believe both Hiei and Yukina are mixed fire and ice demons, I know not everyone believes that (it is kind of ambiguous in all versions of Yu Yu Hakusho; anime and manga, Japanese and English). It's a bit of a change here and there to the original story. I hope you enjoy!
They say hell is fire and brimstone, but they're wrong. I used to live in hell, at least, that's what it felt like to me. When I'd leave my house and walk down the streets, it would usually be filled with other women, but they all felt dead inside. There was something missing from all of our lives. I could feel it.
It was so cold. The constant snowfall would just swirl itself around me as it fell to the ground instead of sticking. It was as if even it had given up on living and was only falling because that had been what it was doing for centuries. Just like the ice maidens. We had lived on the floating glacier for centuries, far away from the touches of man.
As I walked down the street I remembered all that I had been told over the years. Men were the source of all evil. They would make wars for no reason. They'd rape, beat, and force women into horrible body modifications to look more beautiful in their eyes. I had been told these things for years. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't shake my curiosity. It had been centuries since any ice maiden even met a man. What if they had changed?
I knocked on Rui's front door. She opened it and asked, "Hina?"
"What do you think men are like?" I asked bluntly. She pulled me inside and shut the door quickly.
"Evil," she answered, "and you know we don't talk about such horrible things in the open."
"How do you know men are evil?" I asked.
She said, "Stories, Hina. What we've been told for decades."
"What if they're wrong?" I asked her, "Or what if they're dated? What if men aren't like that anymore? I have to meet one, to see for myself what they're really like. You don't feel that Rui?"
She shook her head nervously. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.
I asked, "You don't feel like there's something missing from your life? Nothing at all?"
"No," she answered, "What are you getting at?"
I confessed, "I'm leaving, and I'm only telling you Rui because I believe you'll be the only one who will notice that I'm gone."
Rui asked, "You're going to try and meet a man?"
"Yes," I explained, "I'm leaving tonight when the island will make a bridge to land. I know I won't be able to return for 3 months. I trust you'll be fine here."
"What are you saying?" she demanded, "You'll get yourself killed, or raped! You can't leave! You know it's forbidden. Not only that, but you're reaching your 100th year."
"I'll be back before I bare my daughter," I assured her, "I told you, 3 months time, Rui, I'll be back here. I promise."
Leaving that wretched place was easier than I expected. Once I was on solid ground I knew it would be 3 months until it would make contact with the survice demon world again. Who will I find in such a short amout of time? I thought as I wandered toward a forest.
The ground and the sun were so overwhelming hot. Even in the shade of the trees, it felt like my skin could melt off of my bones. Once night fell I could see my breath. This feels much better, I thought, and kept moving forward.
As I walked further into the night, I smelled smoke in the air. Someone was close by and they had a fire going. I made my way slowly through the underbrush of the forest toward the flames. It's so warm, I thought, I've never felt such a warm fire before.
A small clearing appeared in front of me. A man laid on his back, clearly in pain. He had black spikey hair in the shape of a fire that extended several inches into the air, somehow defying gravity. He had a white star shape in his hair and had large slanted eyes. He wore a deep red sleevless shirt and matching pants. His shoes were a red brown color. I looked down at his left ankle and saw that it was bleeding. He rithed in pain and sat up. He looked over at me and showed me his crimson red eyes. "Who are you?" he demanded, then grimmaced in pain.
"Let me help you!" I begged, walking over to him, "Your ankle, it's broken."
"I can see that," he replied snarkily, "don't touch me. Who are you?" His eyes tried to penitrate my soul.
I explained, "I have healing powers. Here." I touched his ankle and started to heal it immediately. His blood, muscels, tendons, and bones were all so warm and thick. I had never felt everything like it. Instead of blood pumping through his veins it was like fire did instead. It was filled with such intensity it felt like it was invigorating my spirit just by touching it. He felt so alive.
His ankle healed so fast. I had never seen anything like it. In the ice world that would have taken several minutes to heal. "Whatever you are," he said, "you sure are beautiful."
I replied, "My name is Hina. I'm an ice maiden from the ice world."
"No wonder you're so cold," he replied, "thank you, for healing me." He touched his now intact ankle.
"You're so warm," I said quietly, "it's like I'm thawing out just be being near you. I've never felt like this before. Who are you?" I leaned closer to him so I could feel his warmth better.
He looked at me and said, "My name is Kunsei (koon-say), I'm a fire demon, as you probably guessed."
"You're a man," I said examining him. His muscels practically ripped through his clothing. He didn't look anything like I'd imagine a man to look.
"Yes," he said awkwardly, "and you're a woman."
"I've never met a man before you," I explained, "ice maidens have isolated themselves in the ice world for centuries. This is the first time I've ever left. You're not going to rape me, are you?"
He stared at me in complete shock and said, "No. I've never raped a woman before and I never plan to start. So you're telling me there's a whole world out there with women who have never met men before?"
I nodded and said, "Yes."
"What do you know about men?" he asked, "Anything at all?"
"I've been told my whole life that they're inherinently evil," I replied, "they're the source of all problems and they enslave each other and rape women. They force women to do horrible things to themselves so they'll look more beautiful in men's eyes. That's all I've been told, but you haven't tried to rape me yet."
Kunsei stared at me like I was absolutly insane. He said, "Women can do all of those things too, they're not inheirently pure you know. Although, now that you mention it we do have three kings and they'll go to war with each other once one of them dies. What are you doing?"
I grabbed his left hand and felt how strong it was. "You're so warm," I whispered, "everything about you. You feel so alive."
"You're a very strange woman," he said, "what was your name again?"
"Hina," I replied, "sorry, it's just that, everyone where I'm from-"
"They feel cold," he finished, "and dead inside. That's what you feel like. It's like you're a souless woman wandering for no reason. Like your life has no purpose. Everyone of those ice maidens in the ice world feels like you?" I nodded. "No wonder you left."
I looked away at the fire that was burning. It was bright orange, in the ice world whenever we lit a fire it was green and it wasn't nearly as warm and beautiful as this. I asked, "What did you do to the fire to make it so warm?" I crawled over to it and examined it.
Kunsei explained, "That's just what fire looks and feels like. Don't touch it!"
I touched a stick that was burning, then placed it back into the fire. My hand started to feel like it too was burning. I looked down at it, it was bright red and started to bubble. "Wow," I remarked, "that hurts worse than touching ice barehanded." I used my other hand to heal myself instantly.
"You just gave yourself a 2nd degree burn and that's all you have to say?" he asked, "That it hurts worse than frost bite?" He took my hand and saw that it was completely healed. "What? Where did the burn go?"
"I healed myself," I replied as I showed him my uninjured hand. He looked at me in shock and awe.
