Heh…this chapter is done. Finally, I got 2 reviews! This chapter is mostly on Hiei's flashback on some person thing…not saying anything…shutting up now…

"What's wrong Hiei?" was the first thing Ume said to Hiei the next day. "You've been acting strangely ever since the accident last night." Ume grabbed Hiei's arm.

He pulled his away. "Nothing is wrong."

Ume stood there, sadden that Hiei had rejected her so strangle and hurt that Hiei wouldn't tell what was wrong. "I know you. You are quiet a lot, but you don't make smart remarks or insults anymore and you're a lot quieter now. I've known you long enough to know that something's up. Now spill."

"Nothing's wrong!" he said angrily. He turned his back coldly and began to leave. "Look, we'll cover more ground if we search separately."

"O…o…k…" Ume managed to say.

Hiei sat down on in the hall, listening to the conversations of people passing by and seeing if he can hear anyone talking inside the rooms. Ume had left to other hallways already. Hiei looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and remembered something that happened a long time ago in his youth…something that was triggered in his memory when Ume nearly drowned.

Flashback…

Small spoiler of the actual series: This occurrence happened after Hiei lost Hina's (his mother's) tear jewel, he got the Jagan implanted, and trained with Shigure-

Two small demon boys were nearing the unusually calm waters of a river. They noticed something that was in the river…some kind of shape. The boys pointed at it.

It was nothing more than a child. It was about the same age as Hiei was back then. Hiei observed the cruelty of what happened next. The two demon boys jumped into the water and grabbed the head of the creature and held it over the water.

The face was shadowed in Hiei's mind. He just couldn't remember what it looked like.

The boys then started to dunk the creature's head into the water for a few minutes, bring it back up, taunt it, and stick it back in the water. The small creature desperately gasped for air every time it was brought to the surface. It was near to passing out. The boys saw that it was and they drew her to the ground beside them.

Hiei thought for a second that they had stopped the torment and was about to leave now that the fun was over. But he didn't. He turned to see that the boys were now kicking at the demon. The boys were yelling things at the demons as it lied there, half-dead, on the floor. Hiei got closer to hear what they were yelling out.

"It's your fault we're picking on you. You just had to be one of THEM!" and "You don't belong here. This is where we and the rest of us normal demons go. Go back to where you belong, you pathetic halfling!" was what the boys kept repeating to the demon as it was getting kicked repeatedly.

Hiei stared at the creature, almost sympathetically. He obviously understood how it was to be shunned. Hiei jumped down from the branch of the tree. When he reached the bottom, huge amounts of Demon Energy and Spirit Energy exploded from the small creature. It blew the two demons away but only a small bit.

The creature grabbed its head and slowly fell to the ground once again. The boys slowly approached it and were getting ready to kick it again when one of them let out a bloodcurdling scream. He fell to the ground in two halves and Hiei was standing behind him with his katana out.

The other demon cursed at first and then ran away. Hiei didn't let him escape. He cut him into two halves as well.

He went back to the demon that was on the ground. He looked at it. It was a girl. Hiei remembered being surprised at her, how cut up her face was, not to mention the fact the girl as in a huge, black dress, the kind that humans would probably wear to fancy parties. Hiei was surprised to see so many cuts were all over her body. The girl began to wake up. She thanked the stranger for helping her. Hiei couldn't quite remember what her voice sounded like.

"Why did those demons kick you and tried to kill you? You don't seem worth the effort." He called saying to the creature.

"Demons do that to me. If makes them happy for some sick reason, but I'm used to it by now." She smiled up at Hiei. Her face was still shadowed by Hiei's memory. A fake smile…a smile like that could have fooled anyone, especially someone who barely knew what a smile was. Hiei remembered being tricked.

"You shouldn't be smiling. You should have killed those pathetic weaklings off."

"Why?"

Hiei was bewildered by this question.

"Would that have made the countless other demons stop? It'd probably just make them angrier…"

He was amazed and stunned for a second. No demon in Makai had ever spoken in such a way before. "What kind of idiotic thing did you do to make so many demons angry with you?"

"I was born as the kind of demon I am…"

Hiei was still confused.

"What's with the dress? You don't see anything like that here."

"Truthfully, I don't enjoy wearing these rags…"

Hiei looked at it. It was in perfect condition (except for all the dirt that just got on thanks to the demon boys).

"I despise dresses but my parents and all made me wear this. They told me to leave for a while and to be careful…and I can see why." She stared and the halves of demons left over. "My parents are probably fighting off other demons that want our blood and told me to leave to avoid getting hurt…"

"Learn how to fight. That's what you need to do Girl. If you continue to be as weak as you are, you'll die. This time, you just got lucky someone was near…"

"'Someone'…? Don't you mean 'I'?"

"No. I meant 'Someone'. I wouldn't have helped if curiousity didn't get the best of me…"

The girl stared at Hiei. "What is your name stranger?"

"Why would you care?" Hiei knew that once the girl got to know how ruthlessly he killed demons since his childhood, she'd shun him too. He figured there was no point in letting her know his name.

Just then, in Hiei's memory, the demon's face slowly started to become clear.

"Curious, that's all. Would you like to know my name? I'd rather have you call me by it instead or 'Girl'…"

"Hn."

"Well, it's…"

Hiei's flashback stopped. He felt something tapping on his head. He opened his eyes and looked up. Hiei saw a man, the same man whose Tsume and Kurama entered the other day.

"Hey kid," the man said to Hiei, "I don't want you sitting by my door, got that?" he waited until Hiei got up before he went into his room and slammed the door.

Soon enough, Ume came walking down the hallway with the man's wife. They were talking and stopped in front of Hiei.

"Uh…hi, Hiei…"

Hiei gave her s strange look. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I must be going now." The lady cut in. She went into her room with the man.

Ume and Hiei left and Ume began to explain. "Have you ever heard of the saying: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'? Well, that's what I'm doing, so don't give me any looks."

He nodded slightly and continued to stare at Ume.

"What? What's wrong!"

"Nothing…"

"And here we go again…" she rolled her eyes.

In the hall, they saw Hoshi again. He saw Ume and stopped walking and starting talking to her.

"Great…." Ume mumbled to herself.

Hiei stared at Ume and then Hoshi. He left for the room. Ume tried going after him but Hoshi stopped her.

"I didn't see you at the dance."

"I was busy I guess…" she tried circling the boy but she couldn't get around him.

"There's going to be a private party in a couple of days. It hasn't been planned for sure but I can get you an invite. Not only that, but maybe…"

"Hmm…let me think about there…I'll probably take a few days." She coughed loudly and at the same time she said something to herself. "Or a few weeks…"

"I can also get you invites for your friends."

"Hmm…in that case, I'll need five including myself."

"Alright, I'll tell you when the party is." He left.

"About time that guy left…Well, at least Kurama, Tsume, and Hiei will have fun…" she sighed.

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