She was friends with a hanyou.
Her people called what he was a 'Jinchuuriki', but he was a hanyou. Perhaps not by blood or heritage, but he was ningen, bonding with a youkai.
Hanyou.
The hanyou was the reason he was there.
Neither one or the other. Hated by youkai, feared by ningen. Not accepted by either half of his people. That was the life of a hanyou, a life Hiei understood, all too well. It was painfully similar to the life of a Forbidden, after all.
And, an angry, hurt, scared hanyou, lashing out, was a danger to the ningen around it. Koenma was loath to allow meaningless bloodshed.
Which was the reason Hiei was there.
But, to his carefully hidden surprise, there was no danger. Instead of a wild, feral hanyou, more base animal, than anything sentient, he found a boy. A cheerful, happy, blonde boy, with questionable taste in clothing.
And, through watching said boy, he found her.
A ningen girl.
She knew exactly what the hanyou boy was, and she accepted him. She gave him unconditional friendship and affection, as well as the occasional smack upside the head, when she felt he really needed it.
And, Hiei couldn't help but wonder.
What would he have been like, if he had someone like her?
Would he have been like the hanyou boy, smiling and content? Happy?
Would he not have the urge to murder things as much as he did?
But those thoughts were quickly pushed away.
He was what he was, after all. It was pointless to obsess over 'what if's' and 'could have been's' now.
Hiei snarled softly and abandoned his perch in his tree.
Damn, now he really needed to kill something.