Of Marigolds and Dragonflies

Chapter 7

"Lost Sons"


(Spring 2007)

"You must have gotten your Jagan eye from surgery, yes?" she asked, "the children of the sea are born with a natural Jagan eye - cyclops, nymphs and ningyo... you name it. Not always but the strong ones do."

A circular glow illuminated beneath her red bangs. Hiei readied himself. He had not met someone else with a Jagan eye, more so of someone who is born with it. All those demons attacking, the missing demons that Mukuro has mentioned, the fact as to why he could not read her using his Jagan eye...It all made sense now.

"You... That's why the herd of demons were endless. You turned them into your mind slaves using a Jagan eye. No wonder Mukuro had reports about missing demons. You were behind all of this," Hiei concluded. Though he had not discovered her motivations to go to such lengths to steal The Golden Silence.

Sayuri clapped, "you're not as imprudent as I thought. I was beginning to doubt that the infamous Spirit Detective had friends who lacked sharpness. But never mind that, it doesn't matter now. Stealing The Golden Silence and opening the lid was my only desire. My job here is done. I am neither living or dead, but what's certain is that the Spirit World will cast me out or punish me. Perhaps it'll be nice to take another fire demon's life before I'm caught. Or we can take this the civilised way: let me go and we'll forget that this ever happened."

"Hn, I prefer if I just obliterate you into flames," Hiei replied, preparing to unwrap the bandage in his arm. Him, backing down from a fight? After the wretched female just implied the inferiority of his Jagan eye that he put himself in great suffering when having it transplanted? He was having none of that nonsense.

"I wouldn't waste my time on that if I were you-"

He ignored her amusement and prepared to unleash his power, but nothing happened. A sharp pain shot up between his nerves. He spat out blood. The source of agony seemed to be from where she touched him moments ago. It seemed to prevent him from releasing the dragon and the mythical beast was raging within his body, unable to emit from him.

She hexed him!

So the nymph practised witchcraft as well. That was odd. Hardly any demons relied on witchcraft. The continuous agony proved to be a distraction for him. She began to use the Jagan eye and placed a binding curse on him. It held him in a death grip, like a python suffocating a mouse.

"I warned you," she said advancing to him, "I'm fortunate that you happened to be a fire demon. My hexes are limited, lucky that I knew the one that is fatal to fire demons. This reminds me of precious memory. You know... the first and last time I used it was-"

"I don't care-"

Hiei's curtness despite being bounded caused Sayuri to become greatly offended. The Jagan binding curse tightened further, threatening to cease blood flow in his body. The bindings rubbed on his skin, ripping it and causing him to bleed. He grunted, unable to breathe. Sayuri advanced to him, a dagger in hand that emitted a sinister aura.

"Didn't your mother tell you to keep your mouth shut when a lady is talking-!"

She drove the dagger, plunging it onto Hiei's Jagan eye. Crimson liquid burst from his eyelids. An excruciating ache tormented him - the last time he had felt this way, was during the operation when he had the Jagan eye transplant. He let out a blood-curdling scream. No one, in his years, had ever managed to impale his Jagan eye.

"As I was saying," she continued, "there was a fire demon I came across. He was dying but was determined to travel. He mentioned that he learned that his mate passed away and he was bound to die because of that. Yet, he pressed on because he had a son that was cast away from an ice village when the boy was just an infant. He was determined to look for him you see... But of course, he got so ill and... I ended up killing him. Was it out of mercy or cruelty? It was something I kept debating with myself till this day."

"Come to think of it..." she glanced at Hiei, "the resemblance between you and him was uncanny. Oh! Don't tell me-"

She smiled cheekily at him and giggled, "you don't happen to be that male baby he was looking for, do you?"

Feigning sympathy, her smile dropped into a mocking frown, "how upsetting... And you probably spent years resenting an uncaring father who did not acknowledge his prejudiced son's existence, right?"

She stepped on the dagger that erected from his third eyelid. She plucked it out and used it to stab his shins so that he will not use his quickness if he ever gets away.

"When I am free from these restraints, I will kill you-"

Damn, he was an S-class demon and yet... why was he overwhelmed? Was it his overconfidence or the fact that she utilised witchcraft and a Jagan eye altogether?

"It's okay. I'll make you join him soon," she reassured soothingly like a nursing mother, as if she was not injuring him in the first place. The aquatic nymph proceeded to dump Hiei's bounded body into the lake and manipulated the water into a spherical shape.

There was no mercy for Hiei to even think.

His nostrils were invaded by the relentless water. His wounded Jagan eye stung. His lungs were running out of air fast. His flames refused to emerge.

It was pathetic and ironic for the S-class pyrokinetic demon to die by drowning.

Was this the end? He knew that one day he might bite the dust in a fight, but this- this was absurd!

For as long as he could remember, trouble had always followed him. He was one to make more enemies than allies and his mother's tear gem was the only item that could calm his bloodlust. Up until he met Yusuke and the others, he led a life filled with nihilism. Even as of now that he works for Mukuro, it was an endless cycle of patrolling job and training for the next Demon World Tournament. Was there really a point in all that? Demons lived for a darn long time, yet, it was rare for one to know what they live for.

Which begs the question: what, or rather who, had Hiei been fighting for?

Himself? Yukina? His alliance with the Urameshi team? His loyalty to Mukuro? To reach his full potential and gain power? He was certain that he was prepared to die when Mukuro wanted to recruit him. Yet, Mukuro claimed that he was wrong and placed him in the medical chamber so that he could live longer. His superior always mentioned that it was not the end for him, that there was more that he needed to experience before eventually being at peace. What did the female demon mean?

Perhaps Mukuro was right - there was so much more he needed to experience in his life. Yet, Hiei was unsure what that was.

He shut his eyes. He was losing consciousness. A blurred image of powder blue hair strands appeared before him.

"Hiei!"

A shriek of Kuwabara's voice pulled him back to reality. He tried his hardest to see from the stream of water. From the looks of it, Kuwabara had slain several low-class demons that were mind slaves because of Sayuri's Jagan eye. The human was breathing heavily - he was not as fit as he was, now that Kuwabara had aged. Despite it, he trudged on, eventually clearing the demons and approached Sayuri with the intent to attack her.

"I don't care if you're a woman anymore. I will fight you. There's no way that you'll kill my stupid, lying brother-in-law!"

Hiei's blood ran cold (if there was any left in his system). Did Kuwabara just say those words? He had heard of that term before. Yusuke had explained to him of the term "brother-in-law" when the demi-demon cracked a joke about Kuwabara dating his twin sister.

Kuwabara was famed for using whimsical phrases like "warrior of love", but there was no mistake that the human knows about Hiei's relation to Yukina. If he did, where did he get the truth from? Did Yukina know too?

He was fighting Sayuri now, though it was difficult for Kuwabara's spirit sword to wound her because of the endless demons that hurled onto him. It was uneasy for the enemy as well, for she had to separately focus on fighting the psychic with the Jagan eye while drowning the fire demon with her hydrokinesis.

Deciding that Hiei was unable to fight, she released him, letting him fall onto the lake. She concentrated on the human instead, having the upper hand. One demon managed to bite Kuwabara on his shoulder. The human howled in pain, eventually slicing the demon with his spirit sword. This distracted him, not noticing that Sayuri had closed in on him.

With a wicked grin, she held a death grip on his wrist, pointing his own spirit sword to his chest. He spattered out blood and stumbled back.

"A Greek man that I once ferried said: live by the sword, die by the sword"


The fire demon swam up the lake as quickly as he could. Never mind the issues between them or the fact that Kuwabara knew his secret, the psychic needed help. However, when he resurfaced, he was too late - the human had been impaled. He was alive, but the wound looked fatal and required immediate healing.

Come hell or high water, Hiei had to win this fight and get Kuwabara to safety.

Yet, he had to explore his options: his katana had been broken into two, his legs were stabbed, the enchantment seal prevented the dragon from emerging and his Jagan eye was wounded. What can he do?

The lesser demons were surrounding them. On top of fighting the aquatic bitch, he had to be mindful that the crowd might hurt him or Kuwabara - that will be game over for them.

"Fuck-"

He snarled in contempt. He had to do the unthinkable. It will bruise his ego, but that was out of the question.

Having Kuwabara slung on the back of his shoulders, Hiei turned and fled. Hiei was not a coward to back down a fight - he never did. He had always pressed onto the battlefield head-on. But Kuwabara's life was on the line because he tried to come to the rescue. Despite not getting along with Kuwabara, Hiei had chosen Kuwabara's safety over his pride. Plus, he was not letting the man die without having a conversation regarding discovering his relation to Yukina.

As Hiei fled, the stab wounds on his legs hurt. Yet, he kept running. He fumbled about and blew the instrument to call Puu. Get somewhere safe, call Puu and get the hell out of this place. Hiei was unsure if his legs could carry both of them any further.

The little demon breathed in heavily - there was an unfamiliar feeling in his chest. It was a similar sentiment he had felt when Yusuke was fighting Sensui before the detective's third death: fear.

He was not afraid of the enemy. He could not give a damn what powers the bitch has or whatever her motive was. It was the lack of assurance that both of them will make it alive that made him fearful.

Hiei would never admit this, but something about the four of them banding together in missions felt just about right: Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and him.

It will never be the same if one of them would just disappear.


(Winter 2011)

"It will never be the same if you go to the Glacial Village again, though. I'll go on my own if the memories are too haunting," the fox demon offered with a smile.

"Don't take me for a coward, fox-"

"I'm not saying you are, dear friend-"


He should have let Kurama do all the job, but something within him screamed that it was his duty. There were many people he failed to protect, even his own flesh and blood. The least he could do was to put an end to whoever was disturbing the late boy's resting.

He managed to send a discrete note to Rui, to meet them at the pit of the cliff where they had executed the male infants.

Kurama and Hiei arrived at that rendezvous, overseeing the horrific view.

Right in front of them was the mountain pile of little bones - the executed male infants. Those that were cast out because of a narrow-minded custom that these ice maidens had followed. Not even given an explanation or a chance to disprove them. The right to be nourished, to be loved and to live - had fallen along with the gravity that pulled these male babies into their plunging death. Then that possibility that foetus imps fed on them for nutrition - unforgivable.

Hiei's murderous energy spiked.

It angered him because of two things:

One, Hiei could have been in that pile of bones.

Two, the hybrid did not even have the privilege to be born. Yet, these ice maidens executed their healthy, living and newborn male infants. Merely following orders and silently crying. They did nothing. They were cowards. They were not willing to stand up to authority to fight for their sons.

They had let their sons die.

The way he had failed and let his own son die.

The lost boys... Those outcasted male babies... Not even their resting place was peaceful. Becoming a feeding ground for foetus imps. Unforgivable.

"Come out. Stop cowering in the shadows, Rui," Hiei called out.

Rui appeared, still meek and afraid of the murderous vibe that reeked from Hiei.

Hiei spoke up, "Judging from this pile and where the river body was - you purposely threw me in a different angle. You knew I had a higher chance of crashing into the waters than a pile of dead meat. Consider sparing your life as you did for mine."

"I know you won't forgive the ice maidens," Rui whispered, tears running from her cheeks and then solidifying into white stones, "but I am truly sorry for what happened to you and your family."

"Maybe you could have spared those tears and grief into doing something about this," Hiei pointed at the terrifying mass of cadavers of those lost children. Kurama placed his hand on Hiei's shoulder to calm him.

Those lost sons. Their sons. His son. Never to return home.

"Rui, we wanted to meet here because we wanted to ask about the foetus imps. We believe you have dealt with them before. We know their nature, but not how to kill them," Kurama changed the subject. This was their initial motive.

"Yes, they had terrorised us from time to time. That is why- that's how I knew that you were alive, Hiei. No foetus imp attacked Hina," Rui reasoned, "in order to kill them, you need to catch them. The parents of the original dead infant or foetus will need to burn it with a part of their body - say a fingernail or a hair strand. It will disappear for good. We were able to find some of the men that the ice maidens had affiliated with and purged the imps. "

"Thank you, Rui," the fox demon bowed his head slightly. Hiei did not bother to thank the ice maiden.

"Hiei?"

"I should have told you this, but your father did stop by and he said he was looking for you. That's how I reassured to him you survived the fall because Hina wasn't attacked by those imps. But when he found out that Hina passed away, his energy immediately drained," Rui said.

"I know. The man's dead. Never knew him."


Just like how Hiei and the child never truly knew one another. Fate seemed to keep repeating itself over and over.

"Hiei, the fact that your father looked for you meant that you were still wanted," Kurama said with a smile.

"Doesn't matter. His search was futile," Hiei replied, looking away in shame. The guilt that he tried to bury. The unnecessary hatred he carried for his unknown father and defenseless mother.

He was never found. He was still a lost son. Until now, he remained lost. In his despair. In his grief. In his thoughts. All repressed in his facade.

"We need to meet up with Botan to exterminate the foetus imp," Kurama decided.

Hiei looked at him darkly. It was something that he did not wish to happen, but it was inevitable.

"I know it's difficult, but you have to face Botan-"


1) I had always wondered how it will be like if someone stabbed Hiei's Jagan eye (sadistic, but meh).

2) This fic will forever be sad, just take note. Even if Botan and Hiei meet, it's not gonna be an instant "sorry and then makeup sex" stuff.

3) There's lots of talk about Hiei being rejected by the ice maidens. But I had always wondered if there were other male babies that got executed and what that pile would be like? How would someone feel about it?

4) I wanted to have the play on the meaning of "lost". Meaning either "not found", "not at the rightful place" or simply "lost in one's thoughts/sadness".

5) I don't know what happened in canon about Hiei's father. From the way Hina reacted, it's either she loved the man enough to break the rules - so he might have cared and may have died along the way. Or Hina did not have the choice (she might have been forced to "interact" with a male demon), so Hiei's father may not have cared. I'm going with the former because of the "father-and-son" theme here.

6) I know I'm making up stuff about demon species. Yeah, I'm not sure why my imagination is running wild but I'm taking advantage at the fact that these series have demons and spirits. I tried to research mythologies, especially Japanese ones, but none fit the purpose I wanted. But of course, I'm not placing them for fun, mainly because I need them for the plot.