Hiei was glad to be undefeated after his first round in the Dark Tournament, and he planned for it to continue that way. They had a couple days' respite until their next round, but it was only the next day, when he and Kurama were training in the grassy area outside the stadium, that he heard some kind of commotion going on with the bouncers by the entrance to the stadium.
"What's going on over there, do you think?" Kurama said in interest, looking towards the source of the commotion.
"Oh, someone who didn't get tickets is trying to get through," Hiei said dismissively. "I'm sure it happens all the time."
But still, a crowd was gathering. Hiei and Kurama looked at each other once, then they ran to the stadium, where the fuss was going on. They couldn't see the demon there because he was being physically restrained by three bouncers, but they could hear him: "Let me through! That's my SON! MY SON'S IN THERE!"
"Like we haven't heard that excuse before!" said one of the bouncers, laughing, a little cruelly, Hiei thought.
"We've heard them all, buddy," said another.
"And if your son managed to get tickets," the third added, "why couldn't you?"
"No, you don't understand! He's one of the combatants!"
"Well, this just got more interesting," Hiei whispered to Kurama.
"What kind of son doesn't make sure his own father gets to see him in the ring?" Kurama whispered back.
"I suppose a very bad one," Hiei answered.
"Please listen," the man was heard begging. "I've never met him before. I was watching the tournament yesterday on TV, and I just knew. This might be my only chance to see him. Can't you make an exception this one time?"
"No," said one of the bouncers, but Hiei had heard enough. The thing was, he could picture himself doing this, too, if he had been a spectator and he found out Yukina was there.
"Let him through," he said coldly.
"You don't have any jurisdiction over us," one of the bouncers said incredulously.
"Let him through, or I'll burn you alive!" Hiei threatened. "So if you know what's good for you, you'll get out of the way!"
"Hiei!" Kurama hissed, but Hiei just ignored him. The bouncers seemed to remember how Hiei had won his first match, and they reluctantly stepped aside—but when they did, instead of looking thankful, the man looked shocked. Hiei was, too; for a second, it seemed almost as if he was staring into a mirror. The man had hair just like his, red eyes like his and Yukina's, and though he was taller, older, and had a little less muscle than Hiei did, like a powerful man gone slightly to seed, even their body structures looked similar. Either Hiei was having some kind of weird dream, or…
"Is that your name?" the demon asked quietly. "Hiei?"
"Yes," said Hiei. This was getting to be very unnerving. "Do I know you?"
"No, you don't. You couldn't," said the older demon. "Can we speak alone?"
Hiei looked over at Kurama. He didn't want to be alone with this man he had never met before who looked a lot like him and claimed to recognize him. For some reason, Hiei felt no urge to fight him, and fighting was usually the only interaction Hiei had with strangers.
"Excuse me," said Kurama, interpreting Hiei's pleading expression correctly. "What is your name?"
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. My name is Pyros."
"Nice to meet you," said Kurama politely, shaking hands with him. "My name is Kurama."
"I see," said Pyros, glancing at Hiei again. "You really can't speak with me for a moment? This isn't something I would really like to discuss with an audience."
"How do I know you're not going to attempt to put me out of action before the next round?" Hiei accused. "What are you, some kind of hit man?"
"No, Hiei," said Pyros softly. "I'm your father."
Kurama gasped audibly. Hiei looked over at Pyros suspiciously. It was true they looked a lot alike, and obviously he was a fire demon, too, but why would his father come looking for him now? Hiei always thought his father was dead, or at least that he hadn't even known he had children. After learning about his mother's death, Hiei had accepted that Yukina was his only family. Hiei was curious about this, but he still didn't trust the man.
"Fine, I'll go," he said, "but Kurama has to come with me."
"Hiei, I don't think this is really any of my business," Kurama protested.
"It will be if he tries to kill me," said Hiei.
"All right," Kurama said reluctantly, and he followed Hiei and Pyros out to a more secluded area in the grassy fields, not so close to the stadium where everyone was shamelessly staring.
"Be on your way!" Hiei shouted at them before he left, and they cleared off.
When the three of them were finally alone, they sat down on Kurama's picnic blanket and for a second, things were awkward as they just stared at each other. But finally, Kurama asked, "May I ask you something, sir?"
"Yes, of course."
"How did you know Hiei was your son?" Kurama said. "Was it only because you two looked so much alike?"
"It was like staring at a picture of my younger self," Pyros agreed, nodding. "I didn't know for sure…but I knew I'd hate myself forever if I didn't take the opportunity to meet him. Hiei, can you tell me who your parents were?"
"My mother was Hina, an ice maiden," Hiei told him. "Unless you are who you say you are, I don't know who my father was. Or is."
"So I was right." Pyros's eyes shimmered with tears as he spoke. "You're Hina's boy. Hiei."
Maybe Pyros expected it to be one of those "come-give-your-old-man-a-hug" sort of moments, but Hiei just wasn't comfortable with that. For one thing, he didn't really know how to receive a hug, much less initiate one. The only person who had ever given him hugs was Kurama's mother, Shiori, and even then he had tried to fight it.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he asked finally, not looking at Pyros.
"I honestly don't know," said the older fire demon, looking ashamed of himself. "I suppose I figured you were happy with Hina. Once we discovered she was pregnant, we just decided to go our separate ways. If you think I abandoned her…well, in retrospect, maybe I did. But at the time, I agreed with her. I should have insisted on being a part of your life. But I didn't."
"Didn't you two ever consider that she might have a boy, which isn't allowed?" said Hiei.
"She told me if she had a boy, and they didn't want him, she would come find me, and we would raise him together," Pyros explained. "It never happened. I never saw her or heard from her again. So I assumed they let her stay in the ice village to raise the baby, boy or girl. You grew up in the ice village, didn't you? That was our plan. Mine and Hina's." He paused. "Is Hina here? Did she come to support you, too?"
Hiei was shocked to hear this, and he didn't know how to tell his father what really happened. He looked over at Kurama, who was biting his bottom lip in concern. It seemed like it was time for telepathic communication.
Kurama, what am I supposed to tell him? Hiei asked.
The truth, Kurama responded, looking upset. That's the only thing you can tell him.
But the truth would devastate him.
You know he'll find out eventually, and he won't appreciate being lied to. Tell him the truth. You still have each other.
"Pyros…" Hiei cleared his throat. It still felt too weird to say Father. "It didn't happen that way."
"What do you mean?" asked Pyros.
"I mean…" Hiei looked down at the ground, where he was sure his heart had fallen. "My mother is dead."
Pyros hadn't even heard the whole truth, and he already looked devastated. Kurama set his hands on Hiei's shoulders.
"Hiei," he said softly, "would you like me to put some tea on for you and your father?"
"Thank you, Kurama," said Hiei nervously, remembering how Kurama's famous herbal tea was known to calm and soothe those who were in distress, at least a little. Kurama gave the both of them a sort of tragic look, then headed off.
"How did she die?" Pyros asked, obviously trying to stay composed.
Why was this so hard? Hiei hardly knew this man, but was still so awful. It seemed less like Hina had been abandoned, and more like there had been a horrible misunderstanding between his parents. Maybe I should say that, Hiei thought, as he stared into his father's eyes, the exact same red as his own, and Yukina's, too.
"Something happened that neither of you counted on," said Hiei. "They didn't want me in the village, and Mother wanted to leave, just as you apparently planned. But they didn't want her to leave. So…" Hiei took a deep breath. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"
"I don't want to," said Pyros, "but I know I need to."
"They said, 'Do not pity the beast,'" Hiei told his father tonelessly. "They called me Emiko. My mother had to be physically restrained while one of her friends tossed me over a cliff. I wasn't supposed to survive, but a couple of thieves were interested in Mother's tear gem. So they adopted me, in a way, and since then I was known as Hiei. When I went back to the ice village, I was told that the loss of her son was too much for my mother to bear, and she committed suicide a few years after I was born."
Hiei couldn't even watch as his father's face seemed to crumple; he wanted to put his hands over his ears to mute the sounds of a grown man's open sobs, and he turned his head away, feeling slightly sick. To think, Pyros had woken up today hoping to rebuild his family—just as he and Hina had planned from the start—and now his entire world had collapsed out from under him in less than a minute.
"I should have taken her with me from the start," Pyros was saying, more to himself than to Hiei, it seemed. "I should have married her. That was my duty, my responsibility. This is all my fault."
Hiei felt horrible and, worse, helpless. This was the sort of thing Kurama was good at, not him. Where the hell was that stupid fox-demon?
"I'm not going to ask for your forgiveness, Hiei," Pyros was saying. "I don't deserve it. I just want you to know…if there was one thing in my life that I could do over…"
"I know," said Hiei over the lump in his throat. "I know you would."
"You don't just look like me, you know," Pyros said tremulously. "I can see her in your face…in your nose, your mouth, your hands…"
Pyros reached out for Hiei's hand, and Hiei gave it to him. No one had ever told him he looked like Hina before.
"I wish this hand could have grabbed my finger," said Pyros, holding the smaller hand in his bigger one (Hiei had clearly inherited his small stature from his mother). "I wish I could have held you in my arms and helped dear Hina look after you. I wish I could have seen you grow up, helped you train for this tournament…But I didn't. You had to do all that for yourself, didn't you? Your entire life went to shit and I'm to blame."
Hiei didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he wanted this to stop. Not only that, but he was trying so hard to hold back tears of his own, because of course more tear gems would not help. Just like Hina's and Yukina's.
Yukina!
"Wait a moment, Pyros," Hiei kind of choked. "It's not all gone. Did I tell you I have a twin sister?"
"What?" Pyros's eyes widened, and he looked up. He was so startled, in fact, that he dropped Hiei's hand. "I-I have a daughter, too?"
"Yes, you do," Hiei told him. "Her name is Yukina. She lives in the ice village, in Makai." Hiei decided the story about Yukina's capture and torture could wait. "She's fine, and happy. She was raised by my mother's best friend in the ice village."
"Would she want to meet her father?"
"I don't know," Hiei admitted. It was his choice whether or not to reveal that he himself was Yukina's brother, but he couldn't decide that for his father, even though if Pyros did tell Yukina, it wouldn't be any mystery to her who her brother was. "But…but I think meeting you so late, after all these years, would be better than never meeting you at all."
"Is that how you feel, Hiei?" Pyros asked quietly.
"Y-Yes, Father." The words just came out, and next thing he knew, Hiei was buried in the man's arms, the larger hands in his hair as his yellow tearstones dropped to the ground.
"I love you, son," Pyros was heard saying. "And consider that from me and Hina both. I know she would be proud of who you've become."
Hiei didn't think that was true in the slightest, but he appreciated his father saying it, anyway.
"I love you too, Father." Hiei's voice was so faint, it was almost a whisper, but he knew his father heard, because the strong arms hugged him just a little tighter.
Once they had separated, Hiei tried to get his bearings and absorb all of this. They seemed to agree that it was time for a few moments of silence, just to fully comprehend the situation. And then, thank goodness, Kurama was back with three cups of tea.
"Please enjoy," he said softly, handing one to each fire demon, and Hiei was glad he didn't ask what he'd missed. Kurama knew that if Hiei wanted to talk, he would, and if he didn't, that choice was to be respected. The tea did help to calm the three of them, though, and they decided that tonight, Hiei and Pyros could eat dinner together at the hotel restaurant, and Kurama would order room service, unless Hiei changed his mind—after all, the fox-demon had his communicator on him at all times.
"And we can seek out Yukina, too," said Hiei. "I know you miss my mother. But…" How to put it into words?
"But we'll still be a family," Pyros finished, and Hiei found himself smiling.
-end-