Oh man, I finally got the first part to this chapter up. Yeah, you heard
me, first part! Oh my gosh, I cannot believe how long this part of the
story has taken me, and I'm only halfway through.But I thought I'd post it
in two separate parts instead of one so that A.) I do not feel like I have
this undaunting task of writing 16 pages of a chapter, B.) You guys (and I
know I have a short attention span) do not have to muddle through 16 pages
of a chapter, and C.) You guys get something to read since I've been a very
bad author about updating.
Do not blame me! Blame the muse! It's always the muse! ;_;
BTW, my muse (whom I've affectionally dubbed Ryu-chan for the time being) was being playful as well. Neon Genesis Evangelion fans will notice a little tribute to the show in the story.although the phrase has been used without referring to NGE in other people's fictions, I will tell you I had that anime in mind when I wrote this.
Ok, important stuff for this chapter. Um, SPOILERS for most of Hiei's past.though I doubt you'd be reading this if you didn't know the basics at the very least. Much Alternate Universeness in this chapter.
Nobody responded to the Q&A, so I'm quitting that idea. *shrug* They cannot all be winners. Oh, and if they start showing new episodes on Cartoon Network (if they ever do.I tellya, they're getting pretty bloody), well, I just want to say I wrote everything before this chapter before ever seeing past 58. So some ideas that you see that may be similar I did not take off the show in order to fool you. It's just very.coincidental.
----------------------------------------
"So, you've finally decided to visit me."
"Yukina said you were worried."
"I was. I am. I always will be."
"Sometimes, Kurama, I wonder if you're the child of the anomalous mating between a riddle and an enigma," Hiei said, taking a step forward off of the tree branch he was currently standing on, and landing in front of his friend. Kurama smiled.
"You're in a good mood," he observed.
"Perhaps," was the easy reply. Hiei smiled back, falling into step at Kurama's side as the other continued on his walk. He had already guessed that his sly friend would have knowledge of what transpired between Yukina and himself. He accepted this knowledge without question. It was an admirable trait of Kurama's to be so well informed and able to correctly decipher the feelings and actions of those around him.
However, the cunning thief was not the only one who had such skills.
"But I seem to be the only one feeling 'good' today," Hiei added.
Kurama frowned. Playing games with Hiei was much more fun seeing as there could be a challenge found in him. However, the fox did not like being so transparent to others, and Hiei had become good at interpreting his friend's emotions.
"I'm just disappointed it took you two weeks to reveal yourself to me," he finally said, words chosen carefully. If Hiei knew there was more to it, and the little one probably did, he let it slide due to his agreeable mood.
"Yukina and I talked," he said in a sort-of-apologetic tone, or as close to one as Hiei'd ever get around Kurama, which was more sincere than most people he knew. "It was hard to get away."
"I understand." Kurama's tone was distant but happy. "After being separated for so long, I imagine there was a lot to discuss and even more to convey."
"Hn. You have no need to imagine what you know is true," Hiei replied with a snort. Kurama smiled, resisting the urge to ruffle the younger demon's hair just for sport. Instead his eyes traveled to a box-shaped package wrapped in white cloth that Hiei had securely tucked under his arm.
"What's that?" Kurama asked, inclining his head towards the parcel. His companion's gaze followed the gesture, looking at the box before shrugging.
"You'll find out soon enough. Sometimes you have no patience." Hiei stopped smiling and turned his head away from Kurama as if remembering something very important. "I'm still angry with you."
"You are?" Kurama seemed genuinely surprised by this turn of events. "I would think you'd be pleased with how things turned out."
"I was lucky," Hiei grunted. "A dozen other events could have taken place, not all of them good. Kuwabara could have told Yukina himself. I could have chosen to kill him instead of listening to his rambling. My foolish attempt at suicide could have actually worked."
"Suicide?!" Kurama stopped walking and turned to face his companion, trying to catch and search those red eyes that were staring shamefully away. "Oh Hiei." he breathed.
"I was irrational at the time. It's done with, and for once, I'm glad I failed," Hiei said quietly. "I'd rather put it behind me."
That statement was untrue, and Kurama knew he would be pursuing Hiei on the subject in the future. It was obvious, as shown through his actions with Yukina, that the fire demon's primary weakness was that he preferred not to acknowledge things he didn't want to face. Thus Kurama had the daunting task of prodding Hiei to force him into these small talk/therapy sessions, even if it meant facing the other's wrath.
But now was not the right time, and so Kurama just nodded and allowed the other to continue.
"So as you see, your meddling may have resulted in consequences that neither of us would have liked to face," Hiei said sharply, and Kurama couldn't help but feel it was he who was the adolescent here, being scolded as he was.
"I would think that you would have understood." Kurama did not let Hiei's words faze him this time. "The greater the tragedy if something goes wrong, the bigger the rewards if it goes right..."
"If it goes right," Hiei interrupted. "Not when. If."
"I did what I thought was best for you," Kurama sighed, wishing the stubborn child would listen. "You were slowly killing yourself, spiraling downward in a constant circle of indecision and self-loathing. You believe you're only worth is on the battlefield, so when you're not fighting physically, you force others into mental and verbal battles, losing those closest to you with your foreword and biting attitude. When you lose them, you believe it's because you're inadequate to have friends. Thus, the cycle continues."
"How thoughtful of you," Hiei sneered in annoyance, the tone showing Kurama he had analyzed the situation correctly, or if not exactly, very close.
"Yukina has taught you differently, am I wrong?" he continued.
"No, you're not," Hiei admitted. "However, it is not your place to decide what's best for me. I am not a child."
"You are to me," Kurama said softly. "Have you forgotten your age?"
"The Makai never cared about how many years a person collected," Hiei replied bitterly.
Kurama couldn't reply, so he didn't bother. Why waste meaningless words to fill voids when the remarks only made the abyss bigger?
The two walked in silence, the sound of laughing children reaching their ears as they passed by a meadow.
"I've told Yukina." Hiei finally broke the silence between them. "Now, what about your son?"
"I'm surprised you remembered," Kurama said honestly. Then again, Hiei did tend to remember details that might be useful to him in the future.
"He's very important to you, as Yukina was to me," Hiei replied, bringing a smile to the fox's face. Hiei, whether he knew it or not, had just down outright compassion towards him. It was a priceless moment.
"Well you see, the matters are different concerning my son," he said with a wistful air.
"How so?" Hiei was staring at him intensely, making Kurama's skin prickle, his whole body suddenly turning to the automatic flight or fight response. The fox didn't like this sudden bout of nervousness one bit.
"Well, unlike Yukina, my son has not been searching for his real father for the better part of his life," he said warily, muscles coiling as if he would be struck at any moment. He had this odd feeling, a premonition, that something very bad was going to happen. Hiei wouldn't hurt him. So why was he so scared?
"You are mistaken in that statement." The slap came, though it was not physical as expected. Green orbs were fully revealed as Kurama took a step back.
"Impossible!" Kurama cried, completely unprepared for this turn of events. "You cannot know. You're not supposed to remember!"
"You're so gullible, Father." Hiei shook his head sadly, taking a step closer to the frightened creature in front of him. "Doesn't it depress you to know you could have approached me all this time and yet you never did?"
"Hiei." Kurama couldn't get past this state of shock. His mind was still echoing 'how?'. "I do not understand."
"No, you can't." Hiei sighed, gaze traveling back towards the meadow. Kurama continued to watch him, trying to study the other's body language for any hint as to what Hiei might say or do. He didn't like being caught off guard, and while this new information could end with better results than he ever hoped, Hiei could change things on him again at anytime.
Said son was currently looking at the children on the other side of the meadow, watching longingly as they shrieked joyously when the little girl who was 'it' came close to tagging one of them. Letting out a battle cry that sounded more like a cat screaming in pain, she pounced, tackling a slightly taller boy to the grass. Jumping up and running away from them, the child called out a warning to the others that the boy should be avoided and she was now one of them in this game.
"Your son was captured by bandits six months after his birth and his mother's death took place," Hiei said. Kurama visibly flinched.
"My son is you. I thought you remembered." It was un-nerving to hear Hiei talk about his son as if he were some stranger. They were the same person.so the fox thought.
"Shhhh. Just listen," Hiei said, turning to look directly at Kurama. Slowly, unsurely, the other nodded, and satisfied, he turned back to watch the children play.
"You searched the Makai for those bastards," he continued. "They had been prepared for you, which is why it took you many years to find them. A lot of people died in your quests for amusement and glory, you know."
Kurama knew. He remembered finally finding the group ten years after they had taken his child. It had been a tough battle, almost as if the bandits had planned for his arrival and their slaughter. He had tortured the leader, the large, grotesque thing that he had been, and discovered it was no accident they had chosen to attack his camp. At least eight of the group's men had lost someone important due to the youko's past burglaries.
They had planned to kill Zan, his son, by slowly cutting him to pieces, leaving parts of the child's body in a gruesome trail for Kurama to follow. They never thought to beat the enraged father in a battle, only to place their grief on his shoulders before joining their loved ones in death.
But one of the group came up with a better idea, if not more sadistic, idea.
Train the child. Make Zan one of them. With the child of Youko Kurama on their side, their little group would become feared throughout the Makai. Their wildest dreams and deepest desires could come true with such a strong leader.
And best of all, they would watch as, when he finally caught up with them, Kurama was slaughtered by his own flesh and blood.
"What fools," Hiei said, interrupting Kurama's thoughts, knowing what they were, "to believe they could control even a half youko. The species' blood is too wild."
"Zan was raised by the group for eight years. At the age of three, the only child of the bandits found a brother. On the way back from a raid, one of the members picked up a parcel they found nearby on the ground. The parcel contained a beautiful Hiruiseki, and attached to that Hiruiseki was a little baby fire demon.
Though Zan was only three, they gave the child to him to raise. Zan named him Hiei but called him younger brother. They might as well have been actual brothers; the physical resemblance was so similar. Short, ruby eyes, raven-black hair, and the likeness didn't stop there.
Yes, Hiei and Zan were different at their birth. Hiei had a wonderful, sharp mind. Only hours after being born he could comprehend what was going on around him." Hiei's fists clenched at this point, and he spoke through gritted teeth. "He understood the spoken words of the elders. When they called him evil, a plague on their village, and said he had to die, Hiei burned with fury. They hated him for no other reason than the fact that they hated his father."
A pause, and then Kurama could hear a small chuckle.
"In that respect Zan and Hiei were alike. Taken and cast away from their families because of mistakes made by their parents." Kurama knew the words were aimed directly at him. They were meant to hurt.
They did.
"But Zan was like most normal children. Being only six months old at the time of his capture, the most he could remember about his father was silver hair and golden eyes. Not very much to go on, really. Still, he was stubborn and refused to give up." Hiei spat the word Fate as if it had left a bad taste in his mouth. "He would find his family if it killed him.
Hiei shared in his elder brother's dream, though he did not have to search for his family. He needed to grow powerful, to come back to the Island of the Koorimes as the elder koorime Rui had said and take his revenge upon those that had cast him out.
Together they made an unstoppable team. Easily they broke from their captors' grip and journeyed life's troubles. But being an eight and five- year-old orphan in the Makai is no easy task. The two grew up quickly those first fifty years of their lives, fighting hordes of demons side-by- side, gaining strength for Hiei and trying to get a reputation for Zan. By being well known, Zan believed his family would be able to come to him."
The children had tired themselves out and were lying in heaps around the meadow. Occasionally one would point up to the sky and make a remark about the shape of a cloud only to be contradicted by a nearby friend. Their voices rose in argument as one child after another voiced his or her opinion on what the cloud looked like. It quieted as no one could agree and therefore everyone won/lost the game.
After a few minutes, the same child as before pointed out a different cloud, and the game began again.
"I hate irony." Kurama was startled out of his reverie. Sometime while Hiei and he had been watching the children, the fox had walked over to stand by his son. Their companionable silence had been broken by the utterance of those three words.
"Oh?"
"You see I.Zan." Hiei seemed to have gotten lost, confused in his own story. A frustrated expression crossed his face for a brief moment as he composed himself.
"Zan wanted to become popular around the demon world. But he was smart enough to know his own weaknesses. He wouldn't dare challenge too strong a demon to a fight. In fact, he often avoided them to stay alive and keep Hiei out of trouble."
"I see." Kurama understood what Hiei had been saying. In order to stay alive to find his family, Zan had purposely avoided Kurama, knowing he didn't yet stand a chance against the thief.
Hiei nodded, thankful for his strong relationship with Kurama. With the fox, he could get his meaning across without having to directly state what was on his mind.
"After the first fifty or sixty years, Zan was close to giving up. He didn't even know if any of his family was still alive. All he had was his own looks and powers and the fading memory of silver hair and yellow eyes. None of this had helped him.
Hiei and your son began to bicker constantly. As most childhood friends do, they grew apart. Zan began to try making a life for himself in the Makai, giving up on his dream of finding his family. But Hiei was not satisfied with his power. The two had always had disagreements before due to such problems. Zan took the wiser approach, and Hiei was too straightforward and power driven. It finally broke them apart, and they went their separate ways in life.
While traveling, now alone, Zan met up with a previous foe that he had beaten in battle. The man wanted revenge, and, unfortunately, had brought a few friends to help him seek that revenge. The child didn't have a chance."
Hiei watched for Kurama's reaction, enjoying the other's clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. It felt good to have someone protective of him.
"When Zan awoke a few days later, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. A surgeon by the name of Shigure had come across the nearly dead boy and had healed him. Your son was not stupid by any means, knowing few things in life came freely. He asked Shigure what was wanted of him.
Shigure asked Zan if he had a family. The reply was easily no. With some convincing on Shigure's part, Zan revealed the tale of his life, explaining how he doubted he would ever find his mother or father or any siblings if he had them. He really didn't have the motivation to find them anymore anyways. After all, he had lost Hiei, the closest thing to a brother already. Life seemed meaningless."
"That's when Shigure offered, was it not?" Kurama asked. Hiei nodded curtly, disliking the interruption.
"Yes. That's when he asked Zan the question that would change his, Hiei's, and everyone who bothered to care for either of their existence." A thoughtful expression crossed Hiei's face. "You know, it never seemed that complex at the time. It was really a simple question.
All he offered me was another person's life."
Do not blame me! Blame the muse! It's always the muse! ;_;
BTW, my muse (whom I've affectionally dubbed Ryu-chan for the time being) was being playful as well. Neon Genesis Evangelion fans will notice a little tribute to the show in the story.although the phrase has been used without referring to NGE in other people's fictions, I will tell you I had that anime in mind when I wrote this.
Ok, important stuff for this chapter. Um, SPOILERS for most of Hiei's past.though I doubt you'd be reading this if you didn't know the basics at the very least. Much Alternate Universeness in this chapter.
Nobody responded to the Q&A, so I'm quitting that idea. *shrug* They cannot all be winners. Oh, and if they start showing new episodes on Cartoon Network (if they ever do.I tellya, they're getting pretty bloody), well, I just want to say I wrote everything before this chapter before ever seeing past 58. So some ideas that you see that may be similar I did not take off the show in order to fool you. It's just very.coincidental.
----------------------------------------
"So, you've finally decided to visit me."
"Yukina said you were worried."
"I was. I am. I always will be."
"Sometimes, Kurama, I wonder if you're the child of the anomalous mating between a riddle and an enigma," Hiei said, taking a step forward off of the tree branch he was currently standing on, and landing in front of his friend. Kurama smiled.
"You're in a good mood," he observed.
"Perhaps," was the easy reply. Hiei smiled back, falling into step at Kurama's side as the other continued on his walk. He had already guessed that his sly friend would have knowledge of what transpired between Yukina and himself. He accepted this knowledge without question. It was an admirable trait of Kurama's to be so well informed and able to correctly decipher the feelings and actions of those around him.
However, the cunning thief was not the only one who had such skills.
"But I seem to be the only one feeling 'good' today," Hiei added.
Kurama frowned. Playing games with Hiei was much more fun seeing as there could be a challenge found in him. However, the fox did not like being so transparent to others, and Hiei had become good at interpreting his friend's emotions.
"I'm just disappointed it took you two weeks to reveal yourself to me," he finally said, words chosen carefully. If Hiei knew there was more to it, and the little one probably did, he let it slide due to his agreeable mood.
"Yukina and I talked," he said in a sort-of-apologetic tone, or as close to one as Hiei'd ever get around Kurama, which was more sincere than most people he knew. "It was hard to get away."
"I understand." Kurama's tone was distant but happy. "After being separated for so long, I imagine there was a lot to discuss and even more to convey."
"Hn. You have no need to imagine what you know is true," Hiei replied with a snort. Kurama smiled, resisting the urge to ruffle the younger demon's hair just for sport. Instead his eyes traveled to a box-shaped package wrapped in white cloth that Hiei had securely tucked under his arm.
"What's that?" Kurama asked, inclining his head towards the parcel. His companion's gaze followed the gesture, looking at the box before shrugging.
"You'll find out soon enough. Sometimes you have no patience." Hiei stopped smiling and turned his head away from Kurama as if remembering something very important. "I'm still angry with you."
"You are?" Kurama seemed genuinely surprised by this turn of events. "I would think you'd be pleased with how things turned out."
"I was lucky," Hiei grunted. "A dozen other events could have taken place, not all of them good. Kuwabara could have told Yukina himself. I could have chosen to kill him instead of listening to his rambling. My foolish attempt at suicide could have actually worked."
"Suicide?!" Kurama stopped walking and turned to face his companion, trying to catch and search those red eyes that were staring shamefully away. "Oh Hiei." he breathed.
"I was irrational at the time. It's done with, and for once, I'm glad I failed," Hiei said quietly. "I'd rather put it behind me."
That statement was untrue, and Kurama knew he would be pursuing Hiei on the subject in the future. It was obvious, as shown through his actions with Yukina, that the fire demon's primary weakness was that he preferred not to acknowledge things he didn't want to face. Thus Kurama had the daunting task of prodding Hiei to force him into these small talk/therapy sessions, even if it meant facing the other's wrath.
But now was not the right time, and so Kurama just nodded and allowed the other to continue.
"So as you see, your meddling may have resulted in consequences that neither of us would have liked to face," Hiei said sharply, and Kurama couldn't help but feel it was he who was the adolescent here, being scolded as he was.
"I would think that you would have understood." Kurama did not let Hiei's words faze him this time. "The greater the tragedy if something goes wrong, the bigger the rewards if it goes right..."
"If it goes right," Hiei interrupted. "Not when. If."
"I did what I thought was best for you," Kurama sighed, wishing the stubborn child would listen. "You were slowly killing yourself, spiraling downward in a constant circle of indecision and self-loathing. You believe you're only worth is on the battlefield, so when you're not fighting physically, you force others into mental and verbal battles, losing those closest to you with your foreword and biting attitude. When you lose them, you believe it's because you're inadequate to have friends. Thus, the cycle continues."
"How thoughtful of you," Hiei sneered in annoyance, the tone showing Kurama he had analyzed the situation correctly, or if not exactly, very close.
"Yukina has taught you differently, am I wrong?" he continued.
"No, you're not," Hiei admitted. "However, it is not your place to decide what's best for me. I am not a child."
"You are to me," Kurama said softly. "Have you forgotten your age?"
"The Makai never cared about how many years a person collected," Hiei replied bitterly.
Kurama couldn't reply, so he didn't bother. Why waste meaningless words to fill voids when the remarks only made the abyss bigger?
The two walked in silence, the sound of laughing children reaching their ears as they passed by a meadow.
"I've told Yukina." Hiei finally broke the silence between them. "Now, what about your son?"
"I'm surprised you remembered," Kurama said honestly. Then again, Hiei did tend to remember details that might be useful to him in the future.
"He's very important to you, as Yukina was to me," Hiei replied, bringing a smile to the fox's face. Hiei, whether he knew it or not, had just down outright compassion towards him. It was a priceless moment.
"Well you see, the matters are different concerning my son," he said with a wistful air.
"How so?" Hiei was staring at him intensely, making Kurama's skin prickle, his whole body suddenly turning to the automatic flight or fight response. The fox didn't like this sudden bout of nervousness one bit.
"Well, unlike Yukina, my son has not been searching for his real father for the better part of his life," he said warily, muscles coiling as if he would be struck at any moment. He had this odd feeling, a premonition, that something very bad was going to happen. Hiei wouldn't hurt him. So why was he so scared?
"You are mistaken in that statement." The slap came, though it was not physical as expected. Green orbs were fully revealed as Kurama took a step back.
"Impossible!" Kurama cried, completely unprepared for this turn of events. "You cannot know. You're not supposed to remember!"
"You're so gullible, Father." Hiei shook his head sadly, taking a step closer to the frightened creature in front of him. "Doesn't it depress you to know you could have approached me all this time and yet you never did?"
"Hiei." Kurama couldn't get past this state of shock. His mind was still echoing 'how?'. "I do not understand."
"No, you can't." Hiei sighed, gaze traveling back towards the meadow. Kurama continued to watch him, trying to study the other's body language for any hint as to what Hiei might say or do. He didn't like being caught off guard, and while this new information could end with better results than he ever hoped, Hiei could change things on him again at anytime.
Said son was currently looking at the children on the other side of the meadow, watching longingly as they shrieked joyously when the little girl who was 'it' came close to tagging one of them. Letting out a battle cry that sounded more like a cat screaming in pain, she pounced, tackling a slightly taller boy to the grass. Jumping up and running away from them, the child called out a warning to the others that the boy should be avoided and she was now one of them in this game.
"Your son was captured by bandits six months after his birth and his mother's death took place," Hiei said. Kurama visibly flinched.
"My son is you. I thought you remembered." It was un-nerving to hear Hiei talk about his son as if he were some stranger. They were the same person.so the fox thought.
"Shhhh. Just listen," Hiei said, turning to look directly at Kurama. Slowly, unsurely, the other nodded, and satisfied, he turned back to watch the children play.
"You searched the Makai for those bastards," he continued. "They had been prepared for you, which is why it took you many years to find them. A lot of people died in your quests for amusement and glory, you know."
Kurama knew. He remembered finally finding the group ten years after they had taken his child. It had been a tough battle, almost as if the bandits had planned for his arrival and their slaughter. He had tortured the leader, the large, grotesque thing that he had been, and discovered it was no accident they had chosen to attack his camp. At least eight of the group's men had lost someone important due to the youko's past burglaries.
They had planned to kill Zan, his son, by slowly cutting him to pieces, leaving parts of the child's body in a gruesome trail for Kurama to follow. They never thought to beat the enraged father in a battle, only to place their grief on his shoulders before joining their loved ones in death.
But one of the group came up with a better idea, if not more sadistic, idea.
Train the child. Make Zan one of them. With the child of Youko Kurama on their side, their little group would become feared throughout the Makai. Their wildest dreams and deepest desires could come true with such a strong leader.
And best of all, they would watch as, when he finally caught up with them, Kurama was slaughtered by his own flesh and blood.
"What fools," Hiei said, interrupting Kurama's thoughts, knowing what they were, "to believe they could control even a half youko. The species' blood is too wild."
"Zan was raised by the group for eight years. At the age of three, the only child of the bandits found a brother. On the way back from a raid, one of the members picked up a parcel they found nearby on the ground. The parcel contained a beautiful Hiruiseki, and attached to that Hiruiseki was a little baby fire demon.
Though Zan was only three, they gave the child to him to raise. Zan named him Hiei but called him younger brother. They might as well have been actual brothers; the physical resemblance was so similar. Short, ruby eyes, raven-black hair, and the likeness didn't stop there.
Yes, Hiei and Zan were different at their birth. Hiei had a wonderful, sharp mind. Only hours after being born he could comprehend what was going on around him." Hiei's fists clenched at this point, and he spoke through gritted teeth. "He understood the spoken words of the elders. When they called him evil, a plague on their village, and said he had to die, Hiei burned with fury. They hated him for no other reason than the fact that they hated his father."
A pause, and then Kurama could hear a small chuckle.
"In that respect Zan and Hiei were alike. Taken and cast away from their families because of mistakes made by their parents." Kurama knew the words were aimed directly at him. They were meant to hurt.
They did.
"But Zan was like most normal children. Being only six months old at the time of his capture, the most he could remember about his father was silver hair and golden eyes. Not very much to go on, really. Still, he was stubborn and refused to give up." Hiei spat the word Fate as if it had left a bad taste in his mouth. "He would find his family if it killed him.
Hiei shared in his elder brother's dream, though he did not have to search for his family. He needed to grow powerful, to come back to the Island of the Koorimes as the elder koorime Rui had said and take his revenge upon those that had cast him out.
Together they made an unstoppable team. Easily they broke from their captors' grip and journeyed life's troubles. But being an eight and five- year-old orphan in the Makai is no easy task. The two grew up quickly those first fifty years of their lives, fighting hordes of demons side-by- side, gaining strength for Hiei and trying to get a reputation for Zan. By being well known, Zan believed his family would be able to come to him."
The children had tired themselves out and were lying in heaps around the meadow. Occasionally one would point up to the sky and make a remark about the shape of a cloud only to be contradicted by a nearby friend. Their voices rose in argument as one child after another voiced his or her opinion on what the cloud looked like. It quieted as no one could agree and therefore everyone won/lost the game.
After a few minutes, the same child as before pointed out a different cloud, and the game began again.
"I hate irony." Kurama was startled out of his reverie. Sometime while Hiei and he had been watching the children, the fox had walked over to stand by his son. Their companionable silence had been broken by the utterance of those three words.
"Oh?"
"You see I.Zan." Hiei seemed to have gotten lost, confused in his own story. A frustrated expression crossed his face for a brief moment as he composed himself.
"Zan wanted to become popular around the demon world. But he was smart enough to know his own weaknesses. He wouldn't dare challenge too strong a demon to a fight. In fact, he often avoided them to stay alive and keep Hiei out of trouble."
"I see." Kurama understood what Hiei had been saying. In order to stay alive to find his family, Zan had purposely avoided Kurama, knowing he didn't yet stand a chance against the thief.
Hiei nodded, thankful for his strong relationship with Kurama. With the fox, he could get his meaning across without having to directly state what was on his mind.
"After the first fifty or sixty years, Zan was close to giving up. He didn't even know if any of his family was still alive. All he had was his own looks and powers and the fading memory of silver hair and yellow eyes. None of this had helped him.
Hiei and your son began to bicker constantly. As most childhood friends do, they grew apart. Zan began to try making a life for himself in the Makai, giving up on his dream of finding his family. But Hiei was not satisfied with his power. The two had always had disagreements before due to such problems. Zan took the wiser approach, and Hiei was too straightforward and power driven. It finally broke them apart, and they went their separate ways in life.
While traveling, now alone, Zan met up with a previous foe that he had beaten in battle. The man wanted revenge, and, unfortunately, had brought a few friends to help him seek that revenge. The child didn't have a chance."
Hiei watched for Kurama's reaction, enjoying the other's clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. It felt good to have someone protective of him.
"When Zan awoke a few days later, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. A surgeon by the name of Shigure had come across the nearly dead boy and had healed him. Your son was not stupid by any means, knowing few things in life came freely. He asked Shigure what was wanted of him.
Shigure asked Zan if he had a family. The reply was easily no. With some convincing on Shigure's part, Zan revealed the tale of his life, explaining how he doubted he would ever find his mother or father or any siblings if he had them. He really didn't have the motivation to find them anymore anyways. After all, he had lost Hiei, the closest thing to a brother already. Life seemed meaningless."
"That's when Shigure offered, was it not?" Kurama asked. Hiei nodded curtly, disliking the interruption.
"Yes. That's when he asked Zan the question that would change his, Hiei's, and everyone who bothered to care for either of their existence." A thoughtful expression crossed Hiei's face. "You know, it never seemed that complex at the time. It was really a simple question.
All he offered me was another person's life."