Hiei of the Thousand Eyes

Chapter Seven: Strain


Kurama returned home from a long day of being Shuichi. It was a task that no longer felt like a dual life, but he still enjoyed stepping through the threshold of his house and relaxing into old truths. He made it home in time for dinner with his wife and son, which wasn't always the case. Shizuru, her knowing eyes, kept glancing at him during dinner. They would be talking after getting Ittoku to bed.

His son had started pre-school only a few weeks ago. He chatted animatedly about his classmates and what he had learned that day. He still seemed excited to be attending. Ittoku had both his mother's sharp instincts and Kurama's own analytical brain. Their son would be bored soon enough with school and, unlike Shuichi Minamino, Ittoku did not have a role to play other than himself. The child had such a desire to learn, but that could be lost when unchallenged.

He watched his boy fondly as he waved his chopsticks between bites, telling a story of a boy from class. All the things to worry about and it was the simple human fear of not knowing how to raise a child so smart. Shizuru and himself had long been on watch for a manifestation of spiritual energy. Perhaps Kurama should fear when Ittoku learned of his powers, if he wanted to learn to fight or train with his uncle Kazuma. Somehow, the challenges of training him seemed much less daunting than raising him. Kurama had experience in the former.

When Ittoku was finally tucked in for the night, story read and forehead kissed, Kurama joined Shizuru on the back porch and waited for her to speak. He didn't even comment on the cigarette between her lips that he found so distasteful.

"My brother says that girl you brought to the temple is the type of demon Hiei took an eye from."

Kurama nodded. "Yes, Botan told me. The Jaganshi had been extinct for a nigh millennium. Not all demons fall into such distinct homogenous species like them or the Korime, or Mazoku. Even Kitsune like myself fall into thirteen different categories. Demons are a phylum unto ourselves, separate from anything else within the human world animal kingdom. And yet it seems no matter how much further we distinguish ourselves between class and order and family and genus and species, demons can somehow still reproduce with each other, and many with humans as well. It's quite fascinating."

"You're getting off topic," Shizuru interrupted, blowing a stream of smoke into Kurama's face.

Kurama sighed. "What exactly is it you wish to discuss?" Shizuru didn't care about the biological hierarchy of demons, nor did she care about the history of the Jaganshi. His wife was more grounded than anyone else he had ever known. She only focused on what was practical and cut straight to the heart of matters as simply as one would blink. He loved her for it.

"They all died out because they were hunted down for their eyes, right? And she got her demonhood as a magic wish from that golden crystal?"

"In a sense," Kurama agreed.

"That thing the girl put together. She was doing it for a yakuza boss. Despite Yusuke's and Fubuki's actions, there's always going to be a ring of black market dealers for rare and powerful things not of this world." She tapped out the butt of her cigarette, a clump of ash falling to the ground. "Now this girl is a walking diamond both rich asshole humans and power hungry demons will be lusting after, bringing more attention to the temple, to Yukina, the twins, my brother, to us."

Kurama gently pulled the cigarette from her fingers and dropped it to the ground before stomping the embers out. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling the base of her head as she tucked her face into the crook of his neck. "No one will harm our son," Kurama whispered fiercely. "No one will harm you. I will reclaim my role as Yoko before I let that happen."

Shizuru grabbed tight onto his shirt, holding him closer. She took a deep breath and Kurama knew she was trying not to cry. Kurama kissed the top of her head and gently rocked her back and forth.

"You know," she said softly against his collar, "I used to hate roses."

He smiled gently. "Ah, yes. I remember you telling me to be more creative and that just because I could grow a bouquet out of my hair didn't mean I should get you daisies instead."

Shizuru huffed a wet laugh. Kurama had come back two days later with a steaming to-go cup of coffee and the promise of a trip to view a private collection of first editions and drafts Fumiko Enchi's work. She had sipped the coffee with a calculated look before telling him Enchi wasn't her favorite author but she wasn't displeased by the prospect.

"No matter what, you always smell like roses," Shizuru commented, her voice nearly disappearing into the folds of his shirt. "Gaudy as they may be, I don't think I could ever hate them now."


Hiei relented to watching the human girl, no, the former human girl. He cursed the irony of this assignment. He had only brought the girl to Koenma's attention and given her the shards of the Eye of Solomon to rid her from his presence. Now he was stuck playing babysitter and bodyguard.

There were other Jagan users in the Makai, but none they could trust. Hiei nearly spat at the word. It wasn't trust, it was manipulation. With Yukina at the temple, he had no other choice but to make sure she was safe. He'd thought about just killing Chihiro and be done with it. Eliminate her as a potential threat and any other threats that would come after her. It didn't count as meddling with the humans anymore because she wasn't human.

However, it seemed any time he thought of the deed, Yukina would call to their mental link and remind him to behave. Although mental communication was a latent ability of the Korime, Hiei sometimes wondered at the timing of his sister. She couldn't read minds, but it was almost as if the world worked out in her favor when it came to the two of them.

Chihiro was supposed to be meditating. By transforming into this demon, she had skipped the physical training otherwise needed to make such a powerful adjustment to the body. Botan suggested the reason she hadn't actually manifested those so called abilities was due to lack of mental discipline, never having been spiritually aware as a human.

Chihiro was, of course, not meditating.

In the past few days, he would find her around this time at the dojo. She would practice with her double blades in a fashion that was far superior than Kuwabara's still wild attempts and swinging a sword like a bat. Her mastery was only at a mid-human level, though. She didn't have the speed to yet compete with demons.

Today, however, Hiei found her leaning against the open doorway of the nursery. Hiko and Kazuyo were napping in their cribs and Chihiro had a look on her face that read both repulsed and afraid.

"They're so helpless," she muttered as he approached.

"When I was that age, I was thrown off a mountain and survived. I think they'll be fine. Although the boy does have that lumbering oaf's bloodline."

He could feel Chihiro's eyes on him. When he turned, her expression was caught somewhere between disbelief and disgust.

"No wonder you're fucked up," she said before pushing off the wall and heading towards the dojo.

"It's the nature of the Makai," Hiei informed her. "And you better well get used to it. You don't belong among these mortals anymore."

"Why not?" she scoffed. "Yukina lives here. Kurama lives here. Complain all you want, even you don't seem too keen to be going back to the land of demons any time soon." Chihiro pushed open the dojo doors and kicked off her house shoes.

"Don't misjudge," he said, "I'm stuck here until either you're capable enough to defend yourself or I win the Makai tournament and disband myself from these duties."

She snorted as she began her stretches. "And yet, you don't seem to be trying very hard to train me, like you were told to do."

He sneered and looked away. Hiei had once helped Kurama train Kuwabara in preparation for the Dark Tournament. That was the last time he helped someone weaker than himself. He didn't want to repeat the process. She was by all means a fledgling and had no real drive to gain the strength to survive in this or any of the worlds. "Perhaps I should just slice your skin where an eye is likely to be. We might make more progress."

When Chihiro didn't respond, Hiei grew impatient. There were other places on Genkai's land far better suited for training than the dojo, and he had to stay at his peak for the next tournament.


Fubuki walked into the bar with an air of superiority, her nose in the air to the degenerates and demons who frequented the joint. Kaisei sighed into his bourbon. She would come find him here instead of just calling. As the sting of his drink raced down his throat, he mulled over how distant they had become since he quit the role of Spirit Detective with her. Almost ten years, maybe, and they had turned into such different people. One would hardly be able to tell that they were twins.

She took the seat next to him at the bar and crossed her arms. "What do you know about the gang your friend is in?"

Kaisei swirled his drink, staring at the golden brown liquid like it would give him a reason to leave. "Which one?"

"Don't be smart with me, Kai. Her boss that wanted the Eye of Solomon. I need to know everything about him. His operation. His interest in the artifact. I need to know where he learned about it and who he bought it from."

"Why don't you ask Chihiro? I'm sure you know where to find her." Kaisei was bitter about leaving her up at the temple alone. He liked Kuwabara well enough and Yukina was probably a calming presence Chihiro would benefit from, but it didn't sit right to abandon her during such a drastic change.

Kurama had been the one to convince him it would be best for Chihiro to have as few distractions as possible. The obvious bleed of feelings Kaisei had for his friend would have been an unnecessary layer of complications for Chihiro to deal with at the moment. Somehow, Kaisei couldn't shake the feeling it was really his sister who hadn't wanted him near the case. He had chosen to distance from the drama of the spirit and demon worlds, so she made sure he stayed away.

"This is important work, Kaisei. Just because you don't care anymore doesn't mean –"

"Don't tell me I don't care," he spat out. "I'm closer to this than you are. All you care about it punching things into submission. Don't hate me for wanting a life."

Fubuki scoffed. "And what a life it is. You gamble and street fight with people who could never actually compete with you. Do you have a job? Friends? Hobbies other than drinking in bars in the slums?"

Kaisei had to be careful he didn't break the glass in his hands. "I do have a job, actually," he told his sister. "Not that you'd ever cared to ask before now. And friends. The closest currently going through something very traumatic without me." He glared his sister down before knocking back the rest of his bourbon. "You want to know what's going on? Chihiro sought asylum with the White Claw gang after her dad got arrested and sent to prison. She's been working under a boss named Ryuoku, but I'm sure you already know that. I don't know where he learned about the item. I didn't even know it was demonic or spiritual or whatever until the change happened."

She stared at him for a few passing beats. "You don't want to be helpful, fine. I've been carrying on by myself for years."

He reached out and grabbed her forearm as she got up to leave. "I'm telling you all I know, Fubuki. Chihiro did what she could to survive and is now holed up with strangers on a mountain while two prominent gangs look for her. As for the missing artifact? I've got nothing. You're going to have to go to Ryuoku to learn anything."

She tore her arm away. Their eyes were locked and Kaisei counted the breaths between them. He hated that it was so difficult to talk to her now. He hated the chasm between them that only seemed to grow with time.

For a moment, he honestly thought she might sit back down, ask him what his job was, how he'd been getting on all this time. But she shook her head and backed away and left the bar. Kaisei ordered another bourbon.


Chihiro grasped at her forehead with a yell. It hurt, like her skin was on fire. She gasped and opened her eyes, willing the pain away. Hiei watched her from across the room and scoffed.

"It's a wonder the transformation didn't kill you," he mocked in the undercut disinterested tone he always used.

"Didn't it, though?" Chihiro objected flatly. She was tired of his attitude. Half the days he didn't even bother to show up, but when he did Hiei always acted so superior. It reminded her of the bosses she had dealt with all her life, those who traded with her father and with Ryuoku. Any position of power meant they no longer had to care about those beneath them. It pissed her off.

Chihiro stood from her spot on the porch where she had been attempting to meditate and headed inside. It was high noon and Yukina probably needed help with preparing lunch. "I thought you said the third eye should be easy."

"I said it should be natural," he retorted, following her like a shadow. It had become habit over the last week of this so called training. "There is nothing easy about becoming stronger."

Without the distraction of the club or Ryuoku or even Kaisei, Chihiro went back the routines she developed after getting clean. She woke up early, stretched for a half hour, jogged down and back up the steps to the temple in lieu of a couple of miles around the city, and then did weapons for another hour or two. There was a full dojo setup that she had access to. So far she had only been using her short swords and running routines against dummies, but there were other weapons on the wall that she wanted to try.

Eventually, Hiei would find her, tell her that her form was terrible and that she should be focusing on controlling her energy instead of wasting her time on a practice she would never master.

"Like I'm ever going to master this stupid eye thing either," she had snapped at him that morning. Chihiro could only stand meditating for an hour before she started to go crazy. Chihiro had never been a patient person. She got twitchy and paranoid when she was still for too long, when she couldn't be observing her surroundings.

Then, when Chihiro inevitably gave up, Hiei would nag her until she relented and tried again.

Today was different in only one manner. She hadn't given up because she wasn't making progress. She had given up because she was. Something had happened. Her forehead still stung like a tattoo gun was piercing the skin across her brow, an entire line at once and never stopping. She rubbed at the spot on her forehead again, taking a deep breath.

"Too bad Genkai isn't still around," Kuwabara said when they walked by. It was the weekend and he was home from work, but he had been hearing complaints about the slow going all week. "Like, I'm technically a master psychic and stuff, but no one could teach like Genkai."

"Hn, even Genkai couldn't train this one," Hiei said, snatching the peach out of Kuwabara's hand.

"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled. "Give that back you runt."

"I'm glad I'm stuck trying to learn from two idiots who don't know how to teach," Chihiro complained, continuing on into the kitchen. "The only thing I've learned since coming here is how to change a diaper."

She hadn't been too thrilled about that. Babies weren't exactly Chihiro's thing. Neither was sacks of shit.

"For which I am very grateful," Yukina smiled from her spot at the counter. She was chopping vegetables for a stew. "Did you wish to help with preparing the food?"

Chihiro nodded. "Yeah, I – " the words caught in her throat. It felt as if someone had punched the air out of her lungs as searing pain laced her forehead. She crumpled to her knees as her sight blurred with sudden tears.

It was like a vision, a dream eclipsing the reality around her. The kitchen faded behind the wall of tears, although she could still hear Yukina calling her name and Kuwabara freaking out. Instead, Chihiro saw her father. She wasn't sure how she knew, although that sensation was starting to become familiar, but in the scant seconds Chihiro watched her father two things became certain. One was that he had found out where she was. Two was that he was coming here.

The vision faded and Chihiro found herself dry heaving over the kitchen tile. Her hands and knees pressed hard into the cold flooring and her head spun as her sight came back into focus.

"What the fuck was that?"