Hey guys, its me, Teresa again. I'm still a bit disappointed with the lack of reviews, but I guess not much worthy of reviwing has been going on. I was in a slump for a while with this story, but thanx to my friend Yuki I'm back on track. I had been thinking of finding some way to end this, but I really want to write more, and I have plenty of ideas (much better than the last idea with the island of fire XP) and personally I'm looking forward to it. I hope you enjoy my story :D
"Looking back, I remember a day when an execution was to be held publically. Everyone had gathered that day to see this woman die. They all watched quietly as her insides were removed while she was still alive and as her limbs were cut off and hung on stakes. Through the crowd I could see a boy watching this. I suppose you would expect him to be in shock, but that wasn't the case. All I could see in his eyes was hatred. He'd probably been told many awful things about that woman by his father, so that when he was faced with her death he would feel nothing but anger and disgust. In fact, that was all anyone felt about her."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Hiei asked his father.
"You see, that was the first time I had ever seen Kyo. At his own mother's execution." Koray explained.
"What did she do?" Hiei asked.
"She had an affair with a human." Koray replied. "As you already know, fire demons are forbidden to interact with the outside in any way. The only exception to that rule is if the Lord has to speak with the rulers of other nations for whatever reason. In ordinary cases the person who breaks the rule would have been tortured and killed in the place where you were being held. However, since it was the Lord's wife who was the traitor it had to be held in public, as proof that the Lord would uphold the law no matter who broke it."
"I see. He had to save his own reputation." Hiei stated with a small smirk. Koray nodded. "Alright, so get back to your story."
"For the longest time, the entire village doubted that I was a pure-bred fire demon." Koray continued with a grim expression. "As you probably noticed, none of the other fire demons had black hair like you and I. And you probably didn't know this, but in this world a demon's specific race is marked by certain physical traits. For fire demons, it's red eyes and that brown-red color of hair. Another example would be that wind demons have black eyes and golden hair."
Hiei's eyes narrowed. "So why are we different?"
Koray didn't immediately respond. He seemed to be lost in thought for a few minutes. Finally he said: "I don't know." To Hiei, it was obvious that Koray was lying. He didn't know why the answer to such a simple question had to be kept secret, but right now wasn't the time to get into an argument over it. Hiei would inquire later.
"As I was saying, because of my unusual hair color it was questionable whether or not I was really a fire demon. The entire village went into a frenzy trying to come up with some kind of explanation, but much to their disappointment there was no proof that I was anything other than what my parents claimed I was. In the end, the Lord decided I could live among them. Of course, the villagers had no problem openly showing their displeasure of the fact that I still existed. Even as a kid I would get yelled at or kicked around just for walking in the streets." Koray sighed and diverted his eyes to the ground. "Though, even more so than them, I think my parents hated me the most. Because of me, they were no longer respected by anyone, and it drove my mother into insanity. Needless to say, they didn't treat the way parents should. And if I ever did something to upset them, which happened often, they would beat me. Eventually, I was disowned, and forced live on the streets."
"You were completely abandoned, huh?" Hiei stated with no show of emotion whatsoever.
"Yeah...." Koray replied quietly. "At first I was depressed, but as the years went by I turned those emotions into anger. For the longest time all I thought about was how much I hated being there. Of course, things only got worse. The Lord decided that I was too much of a nuisance being free to do whatever I wanted, so he forced me to work for his son, Kyo. In exchange for my services they would house and feed me."
"I see. So that's how you and Kyo got to know each other despite the fact that you were nothing more than a misfit." Hiei said.
"That's right. I suppose in a normal society we might have actually become friends.... But under the circumstances that we were, getting to know Kyo just made me hate him even more. Kyo, on the other hand, seemed to grow attached to me. It made sense, seeing as I was really the only one who didn't pamper him just because he was the Lord's son. In fact, I was defiant to the point that I sometimes had to be locked up. Kyo and I even got into a fist-fight once." Koray let out a small laugh, thinking back on that. Hiei just stared curiously. "Well, in any case, I worked under Kyo right up to the point that I was sent away to Hyouga. In fact, it happened while Kyo was experimenting with some black magic."
"Hn. So all this fuss resulted from nothing more than an honest accident." Hiei stated with a sigh. "Well, I already know what happened in Hyouga. Just skip to how you escaped from the fire demons."
"As you noticed, that prison camp isn't well guarded. And after years of torture, enduring the pain of my wounds was a simple matter. Once I got past the wall, all I had to do was run. I figured if I couldn't get away, then I might as well be killed. There was no sense in living just to be tortured for the rest of my life." Koray explained with a smile.
"But you obviously made it to the Island of Wind." Hiei said.
"Well, not necessarily." Koray replied. "With Kyo's soldiers still following, I collapsed not too far from a portal to the Island of Wind. I don't remember any of this, but apparently there were some soldiers from the Island of Wind nearby, who heard the commotion and came to check it out. Because of my hair color, they assumed that I was a human the fire demons had been hunting for fun, and refused to let Kyo's men take me away. Kyo's men thought I was dead at that point, so they didn't bother arguing. After that, one of the soldiers of the Island of Wind decided to take me to a hospital to see if I could be saved. Sure enough, I somehow managed to live."
"Hmph. Your luck continues to baffle me." Hiei sighed.
Koray let out a laugh. "I guess it's karma paying me back. But to continue, I probably should have mentioned this, but the soldier who essentially saved my life was Reuel."
"Is that so...." Hiei said with a tone that suggested he wasn't expecting to hear that, but that he wasn't surprised either.
"Yeah.... He sort of helped me get my life going on the Island of Wind. Of course at the time he wasn't a General, but he was known well enough. Though to be honest, I was a bit of an ass to him at the time. I wasn't really interested in making friends with anyone, especially since I hardly knew the meaning of the word, and all I could think about finding a way to get to Hina's world." Koray paused for a moment. "You see, I wasn't aware that she was dead.... So I obsessively searched for a way to travel between worlds, even though it's illegal."
"I take it you weren't successful." Hiei said.
"Not at first. But then I was approached by Athanasios. We made a deal that if I joined his organization he would teach me how to get to other worlds." Koray explained.
"He was just playing off your one weakness in order to trap you, huh."
"Pretty much." Koray replied. "From that point up to a few years ago I was a part of the organization called the Black Knights. While there, they taught me how to fight, how to use black magic, and any skill that would be useful in criminal activity. Though, as I rose in rank things got complicated. Athanasios ordered me to become a soldier on the Island of Wind, and use my friendship with Reuel as an advantage. After a while, lying to everyone became second nature to me, and without realizing it I had become used to just doing whatever Athanasios told me. I had nearly forgotten why I even joined his organization in the first place."
"But something made you realize what you'd been doing was wrong." Hiei said.
Koray took a moment to think about to say next. Finally, he said: "Well, Athanasios decided it was about time that he told me the truth. You see, when I first joined he sort of kept me away from anything that had to do with Hina. He said he didn't want me to just take what I wanted and leave. A few years ago, he finally told me that Hina had committed suicide after her clan had exiled one of our children. Naturally, when I heard this I was infuriated. In fact, I think I completely lost my mind. But in any case, I took a while to think back on the time I spent with the Black Knights and decided it would be best to leave them."
There was that feeling again. Hiei couldn't help but feel as though he wasn't getting the complete truth out of his father.
Koray continued on. "By that time both me and Reuel had risen high in rank, and became Generals along with Cleitnese and Archelaus. You've probably been wondering how I've been able to keep my association with the Black Knights a secret, what with Athanasios sending assassins out after me and what-not. Well, truth be told, all it takes is exceptional knowledge of how both sides think. So long as I could predict how the Black Knights would react to my betrayal, then I could find ways to keep it from other soldiers of the Island of Wind."
"Yes, and since you were already used to lying to them so much, I take it that wasn't much of an issue." Hiei said almost sarcastically.
"That's right." Koray replied with a smile. "Well, I think that about covers everything. And we're nearly at the Island of Wind. Anything else you wanted to know now?"
Hiei had to take a moment to think about it. He really wanted to say something about how, even now, Koray was still hiding things. But then again, he was really tired from the past couple of days spent on the Island of Fire. It would be easier to get himself treated, and have the argument later. "No, that's good for now." He told his father.
**********
It was now the second day since Hiei had left the Island of Fire, to which he had been sent by Athanasios, the leader of the Black Knights. Hiei had gotten all his wounds treated by Aysuna, Reuel's wife, and he was now fully healed. Since he and Koray had their private conversation, Hiei had said nothing to his father. Kurama had tried to get some details out of him, but Hiei just ignored his friend. He still had a lot to think about. Although he was pleased that Koray had finally told him the full story about what's been going on, there was the fact that he was still lying about some things. And that bothered Hiei more than how his father had hid the truth when they first met.
"Hiei, are you there?" Reuel asked from the other side of the door to the small room on the upper level of Koray's house where Hiei had been lying down.
"What do you want?" Hiei replied coldly.
"Lady Katana wants to see you and Kurama right now. Sorry, but you're gonna have to come with me." Reuel said he let himself into Hiei's room.
"Whatever." Hiei mumbled as he got up and followed Reuel. They went downstairs, and joined up with Kurama then left for the stronghold. Kurama questioned what this was all about, but Reuel said that Lady Katana would explain it.
After walking through a few small towns, they reached the stronghold, which was well-guarded as usual. Reuel led the two boys up many stone staircases, and finally brought them into a room where Katana, Archelaus, Cleitnese, and Koray awaited them.
"Good day, boys." Katana said to them from the other side of the room. Hiei and Kurama couldn't help but notice that everyone there had unusually serious faces.
"If you don't mind me asking, Lady Katana, what exactly is going on?" Kurama inquired politely.
"Right to the point, I see. In any case, the reason I've called you two here is to inform you that we're sending you two back to your own world." Katana explained. The generals all turned their eyes to Hiei, expecting some kind of reaction, but got nothing.
"Look, Hiei. We understand that during the short time you've been here you and your father may have bonded and that you may want to keep contact with him, but unfortunately we can't permit that." Archelaus said to the fire demon.
"I don't get it." Hiei replied with a somewhat puzzled expression.
"To put it bluntly, kid, your father screwed up big time by killing the entire race fire demons, so as punishment he's not allowed to have any form of contact with you, and we'll probably take away his status as a general for a while." Cleitnese explained with a slight smirk.
All eyes were on Hiei again, as they waited for some kind of reaction. Hiei looked over at Koray, who was smoking a cigarette and bore an overwhelming look of guilt in his eyes as he stared at his son. Hiei smirked and let out a small laugh. "So what's all the fuss about?"
"Huh?" Everyone else said in unison as their faces displayed great surprise. "Well, we just thought.... Um...."
"Look, personally, I don't care to stick around here. And quite frankly I don't care to see his face ever again." Hiei said as he pointed at Koray.
"Hold on, Hiei, what are you saying?" Reuel demanded.
Hiei's expression became very serious. "I don't know if you've all realized this yet, but I've been through a lot of shit since he brought me here. And after thinking about it for the past couple of days, I realized that he's the reason this is happening to me. Every bit of trouble I've gotten into has been because of someone's grudge against him. It all has absolutely nothing to with me. And to be honest, I'm sick of it. So hurry up and send me back to other world, and don't bother me ever again."
"Hmph! What an ungrateful bastard you are, kid." Cleitnese responded with a tone of disapproval.
"He's right, Hiei." Kurama said to his friend in a low tone. "Although I understand well what you're saying, doesn't that mean all the sacrifices Koray made for you were for nothing? Doesn't that bother you?"
"Not at all." Hiei replied. "I never asked for a father, and I'm certainly not going to put myself through misery for the sake of some lying, obsessive social reject."
"Hiei...." Koray started, finally. "All I've done since we met is protect you. I'm sorry you became a target of the Black Knights, and I'm sorry about what happened on the Island of Fire, but even still you should show some respect."
"Respect for what? All you've done is waste your life trying to find some fantasy life that was lost when the woman you loved died." Hiei stated firmly. Koray's eyes were filled with shock and rage at the fact that Hiei would dare say something like that. "Then you go and screw up my life hoping that maybe you could still have that stupid dream you've always wanted. Well I don't want a family, and I don't want to be dragged down with you when reality finally catches up to you! In fact, I wish I'd never even met you!"
Suddenly Koray appeared in front of Hiei and slapped his son hard. The impact made Hiei fall to the ground. Hiei slowly sat himself up, and put his hand to the cheek that had been struck. He stared up at his father with a shocked expression, as he didn't think Koray was capable of harming him in any way. Koray, on the other hand, simply stared down at Hiei. His expression was hard to read. He was angry at what Hiei had said, and didn't seem to regret the action he took. But there were still traces of guilt in his eyes.
"That's enough. From both of you." Katana said she approached the two fire demons. "Hiei, you're going back to your own world right now."
"Sounds good to me." Hiei replied as he stood up. "And believe me; I don't have any intention of ever coming back."
"Archelaus." Katana motioned to the general, who then held out his right hand, gathering black energy there that grew into a portal just big enough for the two boys.
Without so much as a goodbye, Hiei and Kurama stepped into the portal and were once again surrounded by darkness.