Note: Readers, please remember that this is MY version of what happened in Hiei's past. Some things will remain similar while others will change a lot. For example, in this chapter, Shigure (the man who gives Hiei his Jagan) will be very old even though in the anime he doesn't look like he's really old. Consider him some kind of elder in here.
CHAPTER 2: "Discovering the Fire Within"
Tenek and the others returned after a few days, fully loaded with many bags of treasure. In the meanwhile, however, Hiei had spent exactly eight days avoiding trouble with the other demons in the camp. In fact, he had even been nice to the lot as he excitedly planned when he was going to sneak up to Koorime. He patiently waited for the day Tenek returned, since he was planning to put his plan into action thereafter.
Tenek had arrived soon, to ask Hiei of a request. Holding out a piece of parchment with writing on it, he said, "Well, little man. I see you've grown a bit in these past few days. Would you mind giving this parchment to Roboro? It's very important." Hiei stared at the parchment in Tenek's hand, not making a single move to take it. "Look, I know how you and Roboro don't get along," began Tenek, "but – "
"I'll take it," said Hiei quickly. "Just please shut up about the whole understanding thing."
And as he took the parchment and left behind a very puzzled looking Tenek, Hiei began to feel bitter. He hated it how Tenek always tried to "understand" him. He didn't know him, and he would never understand Hiei. It was pity. Yes, that's what it was. Pity. How he loathed that word. Roboro was in his usual daily tasks – punishing those who weren't worthy of being in their pack. Now that he thought about it, Roboro never wanted Hiei to be in their pack. The only reason Roboro never banished him was because of Tenek. A handful of begging and pleading made the headstrong Roboro to actually agree on something he despised.
"Hn. It's the little man," Roboro turned to face Hiei. "Just what the hell are you doing here?" Hiei held the parchment up, allowing Roboro to read the note that was meant for him. A small smirk seemed to cross his face when he was done reading it. "A banished soul, are you?" he said to Hiei.
Hiei shook in anger. Roboro took the piece of parchment from Hiei's hands, crumbled it, and told another demon to dispose of it. After turning to see that Hiei hadn't move from his current position, he said, "Curious, aren't you? I bet you wanted to know what was in that note, didn't ya? The mystery of how you were deserted all alone has been revealed."
Hiei's eyes widened. "What the hell are you saying?" But Roboro chose to ignore him. A bad choice. Shaking in anger, Hiei balled his hands into fists and tackled Roboro down. How a small eight year old managed to tackle down such a large demon was a mystery, but that soon didn't matter as the whole commotion turned into an out-roar. Demons who were standing near jumped on Hiei, trying to tear the boy apart from Roboro. But Hiei's anger had suddenly turned into flames. His skin suddenly turned so unbearably hot, making anyone holding onto him to let go.
"Hiei!" Tenek turned up to see Roboro being beaten by a Hiei engulfed in flames. "Hiei, stop that! We have a guest!" Hiei immediately stopped, the flames around him disappearing and his skin still burning hot. As Hiei moved away from Roboro, Tenek was immediately next to Roboro, ushering words into the demon's ear: "…I told you to go easy on him…why'd you tick him off…?"
Ignoring the words that he had managed to hear, Hiei began to head off but a very cold hand ran its way to his shoulder. He shivered from the hold and looked up at the man-looking demon that was obviously the guest Tenek was talking about. "I see you are the small child Tenek and his gang retrieved from the river. A very lucky thing, indeed, to survive such an aggressive river."
"Hn."
"I see that you are the strong, silent type. Quite a bit of an uproar you made, young lad."
"Hn."
"My name is Shigure. The last of the Jagans." Hiei looked up and noticed for the first time that the man standing before him had a third eye right above his two natural ones. "I see that you are very curious. A very anticipated trait expected of young children like you."
"What's a Jagan?" said the boy, ignoring that last comment.
"Oh, us Jagans are able to see that which the naked eye cannot. We can see further," replied Shigure, smiling down at the confused look from the child before him. "You'll understand later. Anyways, I see that you have your own source of power. You must be a fire demon. Were your parents fire demons as well?"
Hiei looked away, trying to pretend as if he hadn't listened to that last part and was instead focused on Tenek healing the badly bruised Roboro. But he couldn't fool Shigure. Shigure looked at him patiently, waiting for an answer. "I…don't know," Hiei replied. "I never knew them."
"Ah, I see," Shigure's expression didn't seem to change the slightest. "I'd figure Tenek would have known at least something from your background before just retrieving you from a river. Ah well, I guess you're all just a mystery to all."
More like a worthless, ignored demon that completely lacks friends and family, Hiei thought bitterly. Now that he thought about it, Roboro had said something about a revelation after reading that note from Tenek. Maybe he should have just taken a peek at it before he had handed it to Roboro…
"Ah, I see you've met Shigure, Hiei," Tenek came up to them. He had healed Roboro while the two talked and now Roboro left, keeping a cold eye on Hiei. Hiei glared back, feeling his anger rise through his veins again. Tenek seemed to notice this and stepped in between, allowing Roboro to leave out of sight. "Eh, anyway…Shigure, this is Hiei, the boy we retrieved from – "
"The river, yes," Shigure finished for him. "I'm afraid we've already introduced ourselves, Tenek." All three eyes of Shigure kept a look on Tenek and then moved on to Hiei. Suddenly feeling nauseous, Hiei made up some excuse to get out of there. Shigure seemed to make his skin prickle; it was like the man was staring deep into his soul. It disturbed Hiei. Then he remembered about what had happened with Roboro. When he was angry, he had fire surrounding him. Shigure told him that only fire demons are able to do such things. Taking his usual seat on a tree, Hiei smirked as he looked down at his hands. Either way, one thing was for sure. His parents certainly weren't from the ice land of Koorime.