Hiei shifted in his seat in the wagon. They'd stopped and Kurama had come running back to the wagon, looking quite panicked and yet relieved to find everyone still there. What happened next was a miss-match of incoherent words on Kurama's part and Kuronue speaking to Yomi in a soft voice. But Hiei caught enough words to piece together his own understanding.
Flesh eaters.
Hiei's hands clenched into fists where he was sitting and he shifted again. He knew his parents had been killed. He knew that his entire home had been slaughtered and burned beyond recognition. But to learn that his parents had been killed and eaten... that made it all the more worse. All he could think about was his parents. He'd been sick at the time, so he didn't remember anything that happened that night, and now he was glad he didn't. The last thing he needed in his mind was the cries of his parents as they were killed by a pack of youkai who had decided to slaughter an entire village for what ultimately amounted to a midnight snack.
Unacceptable.
Unforgivable.
Completely unforgivable.
Hiei glanced over at his sister, finding her watching the other three with confused eyes. She didn't appear to have heard the part about the flesh eaters, which he was quite thankful for. Yukina didn't need to know that part. She didn't need to know the gruesome reality of their parents death, knowing that they were killed was painful enough.
But still, there was one more issue to deal with, and that was the fact that their killers were still roaming the Makai, still killing for their meals. The Makai didn't have many rules that covered all the lands, but flesh eating demons who attacked their own kind were still considered to be the worst of all demons. They were free game to be killed. And Hiei intended to do just that.
He turned his head and moved to the side of the window, pulling back one of the curtains. Leaning closer to the window his eyes crossed over the burnt remains of the village, then to the horizon. It was mere hours before the sun would set, and that's when he decided to do it. When the sunset he would set out.
He would hunt down the flesh eaters.
And he would kill them.
The wagon continued traveling that night, Kuronue leading them on well into the night, concerned more about distancing themselves from the site of the latest attack, rather then sleeping. They made it through well enough, managing to stay on the trail only thanks to his nocturnal eyes. But after a couple hours, even his own abilities faded. In spite of naturally being nocturnal, he did spend most of his time awake during the day, and like it or not, after time, that did start to effect his eyes. So after a few hours travel in the dark Kuronue finally relented and pulled off the side of the road into a clearing that seemed to be well hidden, at least from the main road from the destroyed village.
Stopping the wagon he tied up the horse and quickly went back to the path, doing his best to smooth out their tracks and make them harder to find. Then, allowing himself to stretch out his arms and his wings, he walked back to the wagon and started to make some sort of camp.
Opening the door he found the inhabitants inside mostly already asleep. Kurama was curled up next to Yomi, one arm draped over his adoptive father in an almost protective manor. Kuronue flashed a sad smile upon seeing this and tucked a blanket around them.
He'd seen Kurama's reaction at the camp, and he certainly couldn't blame the youko for how he'd acted. When the only parental figure you had was an older demon who was quite blind, even if he could fight well enough, you did tend to get protective. It wasn't that Yomi was weak, it was simply that Kurama had lost too much family as it was, and he didn't want to lose any more. Kuronue certainly couldn't blame him for that.
The two children were curled up on the other side of the bed section of the wagon. Yukina was snuggled up against her brother, who was laying on his side, looking much like he'd fallen asleep and then she'd curled up beside him. The image was actually quite cute, especially considering that Hiei was one of those demons who would kill someone before he let himself be snuggled with. And it didn't help that with his eyes closed and his hair matted down that he looked like a little pissy cherub who was sneaking a nap while he thought no one was looking.
Kuronue couldn't help the smirk on his face as he wished he had someway to save that image. After all, it wasn't often that one caught a fire demon unawares. In fact, as far as he'd heard, it was nearly impossible.
The winged youkai ducked back out of the wagon and went back to checking the clearing, taking his time to make sure that there were no signs of danger. As he walked he gathered a few sticks, aiming to set them out for firewood in the morning. Finally, after all the double checking he stopped and just paused for a moment. Once he was sure he'd covered everything, he turned back to the wagon...
To find Hiei standing there in the doorway.
"Well, hello sleepy head."
Hiei shot Kuronue a glare in the darkness, his hand unconsciously running through his hair, trying to rid it of the matted look he'd gained from sleeping.
"You can go back to sleep, I just stopped us for the night."
Hiei frowned and stepped down from the wagon, his eyes drifting to the road. "How far away are we?"
"A couple hours, not too far, but as far as I could get us in the darkness. I would have gone farther, but there was too much of a chance of missing the road and breaking a wheel or an axel. And those are a huge pain to fix."
Hiei nodded slowly.
"Something on your mind?"
The fire demon regarded Kuronue for a second, then shook his head.
"Go back and get some sleep. I'm going to gather a little more firewood for the morning and probably stay on look out for a while."
Kuronue watched the young youkai for a long moment, then watched him give a nod and head back into the wagon. Kuronue remained there for a moment, just watching the closed door, not really sure what to do. The whole situation actually struck him as strange. Shouldn't that fire demon be sleeping? And he couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something about their little exchange was just off. He hadn't really seemed that sleep... it had almost seemed acted out. Kuronue scratched the back of his head in thought and finally just shrugged, turning back to get the firewood that he'd said he was going to.
From that day forward Kuronue cursed firewood and hated it. Because it was only after the firewood was collected that he came back to the wagon to find the door open...
And Hiei was gone.
Flesh eaters.
Hiei's hands clenched into fists where he was sitting and he shifted again. He knew his parents had been killed. He knew that his entire home had been slaughtered and burned beyond recognition. But to learn that his parents had been killed and eaten... that made it all the more worse. All he could think about was his parents. He'd been sick at the time, so he didn't remember anything that happened that night, and now he was glad he didn't. The last thing he needed in his mind was the cries of his parents as they were killed by a pack of youkai who had decided to slaughter an entire village for what ultimately amounted to a midnight snack.
Unacceptable.
Unforgivable.
Completely unforgivable.
Hiei glanced over at his sister, finding her watching the other three with confused eyes. She didn't appear to have heard the part about the flesh eaters, which he was quite thankful for. Yukina didn't need to know that part. She didn't need to know the gruesome reality of their parents death, knowing that they were killed was painful enough.
But still, there was one more issue to deal with, and that was the fact that their killers were still roaming the Makai, still killing for their meals. The Makai didn't have many rules that covered all the lands, but flesh eating demons who attacked their own kind were still considered to be the worst of all demons. They were free game to be killed. And Hiei intended to do just that.
He turned his head and moved to the side of the window, pulling back one of the curtains. Leaning closer to the window his eyes crossed over the burnt remains of the village, then to the horizon. It was mere hours before the sun would set, and that's when he decided to do it. When the sunset he would set out.
He would hunt down the flesh eaters.
And he would kill them.
The wagon continued traveling that night, Kuronue leading them on well into the night, concerned more about distancing themselves from the site of the latest attack, rather then sleeping. They made it through well enough, managing to stay on the trail only thanks to his nocturnal eyes. But after a couple hours, even his own abilities faded. In spite of naturally being nocturnal, he did spend most of his time awake during the day, and like it or not, after time, that did start to effect his eyes. So after a few hours travel in the dark Kuronue finally relented and pulled off the side of the road into a clearing that seemed to be well hidden, at least from the main road from the destroyed village.
Stopping the wagon he tied up the horse and quickly went back to the path, doing his best to smooth out their tracks and make them harder to find. Then, allowing himself to stretch out his arms and his wings, he walked back to the wagon and started to make some sort of camp.
Opening the door he found the inhabitants inside mostly already asleep. Kurama was curled up next to Yomi, one arm draped over his adoptive father in an almost protective manor. Kuronue flashed a sad smile upon seeing this and tucked a blanket around them.
He'd seen Kurama's reaction at the camp, and he certainly couldn't blame the youko for how he'd acted. When the only parental figure you had was an older demon who was quite blind, even if he could fight well enough, you did tend to get protective. It wasn't that Yomi was weak, it was simply that Kurama had lost too much family as it was, and he didn't want to lose any more. Kuronue certainly couldn't blame him for that.
The two children were curled up on the other side of the bed section of the wagon. Yukina was snuggled up against her brother, who was laying on his side, looking much like he'd fallen asleep and then she'd curled up beside him. The image was actually quite cute, especially considering that Hiei was one of those demons who would kill someone before he let himself be snuggled with. And it didn't help that with his eyes closed and his hair matted down that he looked like a little pissy cherub who was sneaking a nap while he thought no one was looking.
Kuronue couldn't help the smirk on his face as he wished he had someway to save that image. After all, it wasn't often that one caught a fire demon unawares. In fact, as far as he'd heard, it was nearly impossible.
The winged youkai ducked back out of the wagon and went back to checking the clearing, taking his time to make sure that there were no signs of danger. As he walked he gathered a few sticks, aiming to set them out for firewood in the morning. Finally, after all the double checking he stopped and just paused for a moment. Once he was sure he'd covered everything, he turned back to the wagon...
To find Hiei standing there in the doorway.
"Well, hello sleepy head."
Hiei shot Kuronue a glare in the darkness, his hand unconsciously running through his hair, trying to rid it of the matted look he'd gained from sleeping.
"You can go back to sleep, I just stopped us for the night."
Hiei frowned and stepped down from the wagon, his eyes drifting to the road. "How far away are we?"
"A couple hours, not too far, but as far as I could get us in the darkness. I would have gone farther, but there was too much of a chance of missing the road and breaking a wheel or an axel. And those are a huge pain to fix."
Hiei nodded slowly.
"Something on your mind?"
The fire demon regarded Kuronue for a second, then shook his head.
"Go back and get some sleep. I'm going to gather a little more firewood for the morning and probably stay on look out for a while."
Kuronue watched the young youkai for a long moment, then watched him give a nod and head back into the wagon. Kuronue remained there for a moment, just watching the closed door, not really sure what to do. The whole situation actually struck him as strange. Shouldn't that fire demon be sleeping? And he couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something about their little exchange was just off. He hadn't really seemed that sleep... it had almost seemed acted out. Kuronue scratched the back of his head in thought and finally just shrugged, turning back to get the firewood that he'd said he was going to.
From that day forward Kuronue cursed firewood and hated it. Because it was only after the firewood was collected that he came back to the wagon to find the door open...
And Hiei was gone.