Hiei hated the ice maidens. Hate came easy to him, for he was a fire demon and fire demons were beings of passion.

The ice maidens as a whole were an empty race, he found. The only thing they knew were apathy and loneliness. To kill them would be a mercy Hiei decided, and he was never merciful with those he hated. The koorime's continued wretched existence was only owed to Hiei's loathing of their very being, a fact that let Hiei sleep just a little more calmly at night. No, he was not merciful to these pathetic creatures.

Looking down at the girl sleeping under the tree below him, Hiei felt conflicted. Yukina. A twin sister.

Rui had told him of the gentle girl. Hiei had not believed her, of course. Hiei hated Rui, after all. The old ice maiden was a pitiful thing, only held together by grief and regret. Hiei approved of her living in sufferance. There were only few lines Hiei did not cross but he did not kill children, neither with a weapon in his hands nor by exposure. So, the mayhap closest thing to an aunt Hiei had, Rui, was the rare type of scum Hiei did not enjoy the company of.

Yukina had the typical complexion of an ice maiden. From what he'd seen of her she did not seem to possess dominion over fire. At least she had the capacity to feel. Something inherited from their mother, probably.

Hina was dead and gone, with no body left to mourn or hate. To hate, probably. Hiei hated his mother that did not fight enough for him. Hated his mother that killed herself over him, leaving his sister behind in a village of emotionless corpses. Hated her for leaving him longing, longing for… But ice maidens left no corpse when they died, they simply turned to snow and were gone with the wind. The thing Hiei maybe hated most about his mother was that she escaped his revenge on the ice maidens.

Up in his trees Hiei was left wondering if Yukina was even his full sister. Probably not. If Hiei guessed right Hina was just 100 years old when she had them both, making Yukina a pure ice maiden. His sister was probably better of without his deadbeat dad anyways.

His father. Hiei did not even have a name for the man. It should be difficult to hate a shadow but Hiei was a fire demon, strong emotions came to him easily. Say what he will about his mother, Hiei did believe she cared. Caring was not a violent emotion. Love, love came either fast as a sword or slow as a disease. And Hiei's father might have loved Hina but he sure did not love her or their child enough. If he had, Hiei would not have been forced to grow up like he had, among murderous bandits. Hiei had looked extensively for the fire demon. They were not easy to find for their tempers clashed easily and they lived solitary lives much unlike the koorime. Most lived alone with a few couples in between and a single throuple that Hiei found in the mix. They did not keep in touch with each other so Hiei wound up with no name for his father and a lot of burning blood on his hands.

Hiei was cleaning his sword. The blood had accumulated from three low lives that had set their sights on his sister already. Hiei wondered what she had been taught in the ice maiden's village to be so lacking in guile and awareness.

The bandits. Hiei hated them. Not a lot of complicated feelings. He was thankful they unsealed him, sure, but most saw him either as a convenient snack for hard times or a wimp to play with if no victims passed the high road. Hiei hated them, hated them, hated them. Good riddance he killed them all. Especially the gluttony demon with his grubby fingers. Hiei cleaned his sword especially well at the thought of him. He'd never let his sister be kept by someone like that demon, a fat, greedy, abusive piece of shit. No, Hiei would give Yukina the mercy of killing her before he ever let a lowlife abuser get his hands on her.

Hiei's sister looked exhausted from her search. Her search for her brother. For Hiei. Of course she was exhausted, she went about the search all wrong. To search a world as large as Makai you'd need to either be born with third eye or the help Shigure the Osteopath.

Shigure. The Jagan was useful and Hiei did find his sister, yes, but looking back it was not worth all the sacrifice. Hiei hated the demon doctor. He could have found the ice maidens' village with time, as he realized his heritage and understood why he could not only control fire but also ice. Not that he ever wanted to use powers from the dominion of the koorime. His sister would have been difficult to find without the Jagan, but then again, Hiei hadn't know of her before meeting Rui. And now he had given the demon surgeon his word never to tell Yukina of their relation. While Hiei had never intended to do so in the first place, he hated the imposition for the shackle it was. What if he ever wanted to change his mind? And all of that just because Shigure liked to cause drama for his stories, for when he played with lesser demons. The man was very hateable indeed.

Yukina snored as she slept. She liked to play with animals. She was kind to strangers. She possessed enough emotions to make up for the rest of the koorime.

Hiei did not like sister, he found as he looked down at her. She was soft and naïve and lacked the caution or ruthlessness necessary to traverse the demon world on her own. She would have died thrice the last week alone without a shadow like Hiei nearby to keep her safe. She lacked basic instincts that were beaten into Hiei since childhood, anger and hate and sadism. Hiei did not like his sister. But he loved her. And love came easy to him, for Hiei was a fire demon and fire demons were beings of passion.