The elder stayed with Hina through the first several months of child raising. Caring for Hina's daughter was a complete breeze, but her son became very fussy, when he became hungry Hina would cringe, her chest had become so sore from breast feeding, the boy suckled so hard that once she even began bleeding.
"Elder… how long do women usually breast feed, I'm not sure I'll have anything left" Hina complained.
The elder let out a very aged and strained laugh, the laugh caused her to cough, which made her wheeze, which then in turn forced her to sit down, softly chuckling.
"Child, child… you may stop breast feeding anytime you wish, you can use a simple bottle to feed him."
At this Rui started laughing as well, for the past 3 months of isolation inside her hut Hina could have ended her agony.
"What?" she groaned, tenderly massaging her aching bosom.
Rui walked over to her and stroked her hair. "Poor Hina… maybe you should try running some warm water on yourself to help relieve some pressure."
"Sounds like a great idea" Hina sighed.
"Enjoy it while you can Hina, as tradition goes your 'leave' from the village to care for your children is almost over, this isolation only lasts 4 months."
"So that means I only have 1 more month before I expose him to the village…" Hina said sadly.
"That's right…. But in the meantime lets focus on feeding your son before he gets hungry again," the elder smiled " go take a warm shower, when you get out we'll take the milk from you and start feeding your children from a bottle."
Hina got up from her chair, going to her bathroom, she ran the water for about 6 minutes until it eventually heated up, living in the ice village sure did have its downs when it came to having warm water….
Hina, tired of standing, sat on her shower floor her head propped against the tile, letting the temporary warm water run over her aching muscles, she tried massaging herself to speed the process of loosening everything up because warm water in the ice village ran for maybe 2 minutes before it turned icy cold.
Outside the bathroom the elder held Yukina in her arms. " I'm surprised that the little one here barley cries"
"Maybe it's because she feels sorry for Hina, Hiei cries enough for both of them" Rui laughed, but almost like a trigger from what she said Hiei began to wail again, the boy child would cry and cry, no matter what anybody did he would not stop, changing his dressings nor feeding him would satisfy the crying. Rui rubbed her temples.
"I guess I jinxed us."
Rui slid down the wooden panel to the baby crib and picked Hiei up, bouncing him on her knee and rubbing his back, anything to stop his horrific and nerve scraping cries.
Hina had heard her child crying just about the time her warm salvation had turned icy. She dried herself and slipped into a new loosely fitted robe. She emerged, her robins egg blue hair wavy from the water, she stuck out her arms, twiddling her fingers, a sign to have Rui hand over her son to her. Rui carefully passed him to his mother, Hiei flailed and wriggled continuously, making holding him a very difficult task.
"Why is he so fussy?" Hina complained.
"I don't know, maybe we should bathe him again, he seemed to like that before." Rui suggested.
"I suppose we could try" Hina strained her voice over her child's wails
The elder gimped from her chair and went to the kitchen Hina and Rui following, Rui filled the sink, as Hina began to unclad her son, Hina broke into a panic as soon as she felt her bare hand touch her sons bare body. "He's burning up!!"
The elder, once in the process of lighting the burner beneath the sink felt the child. "We should get him in the cold water" she suggested.
Hina lifted Hiei over the counter and settled him in the water, Hiei sat in the water, continuing to wail, a few moments later the water began to boil.
Hina frantically lifted Hiei out of the water. "You lit the burner?!"
The elder looked under the sink and in astonishment she said " The burner is ice cold, the heat is coming from the child."
"He couldn't have….. He doesn't feel THAT hot" Rui said.
"Hina… I do not wish to bring up the subject for but this once…but what kind of male demon did you 'cross paths' with" The elder asked carefully
Hina blushed at the question. "Well um.. He is a fire demon…." Hina said slowly, but I've never seen him to 'that' to water.
The elder nodded "He's producing such a high power…and at this age, the boy cant even speak yet and he has more spirit power than anyone in the village…."
Hiei's cries had stopped when he was pulled out of the water and was now sleeping peacefully in his mothers arms, Hina looked down at his sleeping face.
"He's stopped crying…"
"The boy is not capable of controlling his spiritual power, I suppose the most logical explanation there is…since he cant control it, it 'leaks' out of his body, raising his temperature, that probably makes him uncomfortable, but the spells of leaking energy are brief and soon relieved, I'm sure once he's grown a bit he'll unconsciously be able to control it" The elder nostalgically said.
"Well!" Rui sighed. "That was an earful!"
Hina nodded rubbing her son's back, kissing his forehead. "I sure hope you're right elder"
Hina's isolation from the village was to end this upcoming weekend and the elder who had helped her along left her side at this time, leaving Hina to her thoughts and to her children, the elder stepped into a commonly known hut where 19 other old women were gathered at a long table, the head elder sitting at the front.
"So tell us…. How is Hina and what of her children" head elder spoke.
"As new to parenting as she is, she is a very caring and loving mother to her children, her son, Hiei, I have found out recently that the boy is a hybrid between the ice and fire.." the old woman said.
Mutters of disdain and disapproval went around the room, not only had Hina been wretched enough to break their sacred covenant, she had done so with a fire demon.
The old woman continued on. "The boy emits a very intense flame from his body, I suspect he's not in control of his energy, but as he grows I'm confident that he will learn to control it with much ease."
"So you're saying, in the experience with the child that he is exceptionally powerful" one of the old women said.
The elder nodded, and fearful expressions were shared among the old women.
"So the boy is powerful, he is still merely an infant, it wont be until his later years that we will see what his means are with it." the head elder reassured.
The meeting of progress was over, the women who had once been excited about a boy being in the village were startled and fearful of the news they had received about the boys power.
1 week later
Hina stepped from her house, the first breath of cold icy air pushed its way into her lungs, refreshing her, for the first time in months. She held her son in her arms, Hiei's eyes scoured this icy territory, though still only an infant he took into account were he was. Yukina, held by Rui, was sleeping peacefully, the frigid air crossed her face but she made no qualm of it, both herself and her bother, like the other ice apparitions, had a very high tolerance of cold weather. Rui had noticed the women of the village out and about with their own children, gazing towards Hina with disapproval. Hina felt as if she were a lost animal in a den of wolves. The only thing that made her feel better was the fact that Rui was standing beside her.
One woman confronted Hina, her eyebrows narrowed, the look on her face changing to disgust as she gazed down at Hina's son, Hina held him tighter, Hiei looked to the woman glowering at him, once the boy's eyes had met with the woman's she began to spout.
"The most disgraceful and disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life! How dare you! " The woman walked away. Hina held onto her son, her head bowed, trying to keep her tears in, she had barley taken 2 steps outside of her home and she was already being insulted.
Rui looked to Hina and softly chided her. "Don't pay attention to ignorant people like that, they accuse an innocent infant because they are boar headed, stone hearted, hateful people."
Hina offered a faint smile. "Thank you very much Rui, for standing by my side."
"Rui smiled gently. "I'll always be here for you Hina, you are my most precious friend."
Having received an energy boost from her friend's words Hina shuffled through the snow. "Head elder said she would like to see me, so it looks like we'll get to move about the village for once in a very long while"
Rui followed Hina through the snow, they walked slow, letting the children look at their home. Unknown to Rui and Hina, Hiei had some simple telepathic power and was able to hear every word the cold hearted woman had directed at him, though too young to understand the meaning of the words, they would stay with him until he did find out the harsh truth of what was being said about him.
Suggestions are welcome, give me some ideas, I have some good ones for when Hiei is much older, like when he's 9 or 10