Life Goes On

I don't know about anyone else, but I feel that this is a conversation that is long overdue between these two. Please review and let me know if it lived up to your expectations. I'll admit, it doesn't resolve all the issues that might be between these two, but it certainly gets the ball rolling for future scenes in this story.

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Scene 24 ------------------------------------------- Garuyun's Hideout

* Hiei remains in the corner. Yukina has stayed on the bed. Her mind has toiled for the past couple hours over the one question she's always wanted to ask Hiei. Finally, she can withhold from doing so no longer. She speaks quietly, without lifting her eyes to look at her brother.


Yukina- (Quietly) Why?


* The soft question makes Hiei raise his head from his folded arms to look at her.


Hiei- What?


* Yukina closes her eyes as she bows her head, bolstering her courage.


Yukina- (Quietly) Why.. do you.. hate me?


* Hiei's eyes widen.


Hiei- Hate you? What makes you think such a stupid thing?


* Yukina shrugs slightly.


Yukina- You never come to.. visit me.. You didn't even want me to know that you were my..

Hiei- Yukina,..

Yukina- No, please.. I must know.. I may not ever get a chance like this.. again.. Is it because I resemble.. them.. so much? Am I too weak or.. meek..?

Hiei- Yukina, stop.

Yukina- Please.. Just tell me why you won't even.. touch me..

Hiei- I'm in my heat cycle..

Yukina- You've avoided me long before this!


* When Yukina's voice catches Hiei stands and begins to pace. Yukina looks up to watch him.


Hiei- I can't discuss this right now..

Yukina- Yes, Hiei. We will discuss this.


* Hiei stops walking, a little surprised at her sudden aggression.


Yukina- It's true.. I am your sister.. But I'm still willing to help you through this..

Hiei- No!


* Hiei turns to look at her. When he sees the tears sparkling in her eyes it tightens his chest. He blurs over to grasp her cheeks in his hands.


Hiei- No, Yukina.. You will not show him these!


* Yukina blinks and lowers her gaze.


Yukina- (Quietly) I'll try not to.. But..

Hiei- Yukina,.. Sister,..


* Hiei slowly releases her.


Hiei- (Quietly) The failure's not yours.. I'm the unworthy one.


* Yukina looks back up at him. Hiei swallows and looks away from her gentle, concerned eyes shamefully.


Hiei- (Quietly) You are.. so good.. and kind.. You represent everything that is.. peaceful.. Me? - I'm the cursed one.. Even my name..

Yukina- (Quietly) It's not your true name, ya know.


* Hiei looks at her more harshly than he intends to.


Hiei- It is my name! The only other name that represents me better is Shiyounin!

Yukina- That's not what you are!


* Hiei turns with a growl and moves away placing his back to her to get a handle on his control again. He knows that it is his heat that's causing his emotional flare-ups. Yukina studies him a moment, the marks of Kichiro that still mar what she can see of his arms and neck.


Yukina- Be-because of.. what I represent.. Because of those I called my.. sisters.. My people that rejected you..

Hiei- Yukina,.. I wasn't born with this jagan.. In fact, I didn't even know anything about the third eye until I met.. Ryuji..

Yukina- Our half-brother?

Hiei- Hn.

Yukina- How did you find him? How did you know who he was?


* Hiei is silent a couple moments. Yukina scoots to sit on the edge of the bed, wanting to go over to her brother but then she decides to stay where she is. She doesn't want to upset him any further.


Yukina- Please tell me.. I want to know everything I can about you..

Hiei- You shouldn't know anything about me.

Yukina- Please, brother.


* Hiei swallows. He can feel her strong affection for him through their family bond. It is this affection that has always kept him from growing too close to her. This feeling that he has always felt so unworthy to feel.


Hiei- (Quietly) If I.. tell you.. everything.. then you will truly hate me... Hn.. perhaps that would be best.


* Hiei half turns to glance toward her again. Yukina remains quiet so she can listen.


Hiei- I met Ryuji by chance not long after I'd escaped from Satjiyu the first time.. The only way I could make money to live for those several.. years.. was to sell myself.. It was the only thing I knew at that time..


* Hiei turns away from her again so he won't have to see the disgust that he 'knows' will fill her eyes as he continues.


Hiei- I would take the.. roughest customers.. The ones that my.. master's.. other sluts wouldn't.. or couldn't handle.. For six years I knew pain.. very intimately.. There are demons in this world that your pure mind could never even fathom, sister..


* Yukina feels, too. She feels Hiei's growing shame and guilt. It becomes almost unbarable for her as she fights to keep her tears from falling and developing into gems of sadness.


Yukina- Hiei, you don't..

Hiei- I met Ryuji on the job in the brothel I lived in one night.. As soon as he seen me, he told me that he just had to bite me.. He had to taste my blood because fire recognizes fire through the blood.. As soon as he tasted me he knew why I looked so much like him, then.. I told him that all I knew was that my.. sire.. was a fire demon.. After I finished.. servicing him he.. followed me to the b------ I was working for at the time.


* Hiei hesitates a long moment to gather himself, then he begins to pace again as he continues talking.


Hiei- He bought me from Hasunji then he gave me my first orders as my new master.. He ordered me to kill Hasunji.


* Yukina lowers her eyes. Hiei glances at her as he continues pacing. When he reaches the front of their small enclosure he looks through the plexiglass and notices that Kasaba is also listening to him. Hiei is almost tempted to reach out and touch the barrier until it drains everything from him.


Yukina- (Quietly) Don't do that..


* Hiei takes a deep breath and paces away from the shield again.


Hiei- When Ryuji took me back to his home.. Back to the Da-kuhisaki Clan's territory.. He introduced me to my.. our father..


* Yukina looks up again quickly.


Yukina- You met our father?

Hiei- Hn.. Met him.. Listened to him babble about his royal position in the clan.. About how he couldn't risk telling anyone at the time because he was being examined to be the next clan leader because his father had just passed on.. Our.. clan.. held very high standards of honor.. Unmated sex was permitted among our own kind.. But producing impure offspring was not.. He babbled about how it took him a couple years to fully establish himself as the new leader.. By that time he had.. forgotten.. about his.. indescretion.. with our mother.

Yukina- So he knew that mother was pregnant?

Hiei- Hn.. But he was too busy acquiring his power to be.. concerned about.. As he put it, 'such a trivial thing'.. It was Ryuji who stood up then and accused him of the worst dishonor that a fire demon could commit in failing to acknowledge us.. While the indescretion would have kept him from obtaining his position, it would not have cost him his life.. But in keeping our creation hidden from the elders he committed a worse dishonor.. The elders agreed with Ryuji.. They then explained to me what I had to do according to their traditions in order to make things right.. According to fire custom, if a parent neglects or refuses to acknowledge its child, especially in the case of an eldest son or heir, the child has the right to kill the erring parent to restore its own honor.


* Yukina raises a hand to cover her mouth.


Yukina- Oh, Hiei.. Y-you didn't..


* Hiei remains silent until Yukina looks away, sensing the answer through their bond.


Yukina- (Quietly) Oh, Hiei..

Hiei- Ryuji took father's sword from him.. and handed it to me..


* Hiei stops pacing and unsheathes his kitanna It is virtually useless behind the plexiglass shield that he'd already tried to penetrate with it. He continues talking as he inspects the blade that he keeps impeccably clean.


Hiei- Ryuji then told me telepathically about the custom..

Yukina- Telepathically?

Hiei- Some fire demons possess inner, or hidden, jagans while others possess visible ones.

Yukina- Then Ryuji has a hidden one?

Hiei- Hn.. He told me that if I didn't take my restitution, then he would have to kill me in order to clear his father's name.. I learned later that Ryuji had lied to me about that part..

Yukina- He used you to get the leadership of the clan?


* Hiei re-sheathes the kitanna and crosses his arms.


Hiei- No.. When I killed our sire the elders offered that position to me.. I declined it.. That's when Ryuji told them that he owned me.. The b------s required proof of this..


* Hiei chuckles softly.


Hiei- It was then I learned that, while fire demons are an honorable species, they are also an extremely horny one.


* Hiei doesn't have to look directly at Yukina to know that she is blushing. The koorime sighs.


Hiei- I learned a lot about our fire heritage that day.. So, after Ryuji proved to the elders that I most assuredly did.. belong to him.. They decided to give the leadership to him.. He became the youngest to ever claim that position in the clan's history.. He still holds it today, even though he now works for Lord Mukuro as well.


* Hiei looks at Yukina over his shoulder as she lowers her eyes.


Hiei- (Quietly) Hasunji and our sire weren't the first ones I'd ever killed, Yukina.


* Yukina doesn't answer, but Kasaba now speaks up.


Kasaba- Killing is bad.


* Hiei turns to look at the redheaded boy.


Kasaba- Only bad people kill.. That's what Auntie Shizuru always said..


* Kasaba tilts his head to look up at Hiei.


Kasaba- (Quietly) But.. you're not.. bad.. I don't feel that you are..


* Yukina half glances toward Kasaba.


Yukina- No, he's not, Sabie.. Not now..

Kasaba- Yeah. People can change..

Hiei- Your.. Auntie.. told you that, too, boy?!


* Kasaba lowers his eyes with a slight shrug.


Kasaba- (Quietly) No.. I just.. know..

Hiei- You're too young to know what the h--- you're saying!


* Yukina looks back up at Hiei. The koorime turns to pace away again.


Hiei- I've said enough.. Now you know why I never wanted you to know about me.. I could never be the perfect idea of a brother you had in that head of yours.

Yukina- Is that what your jagan tells you?

Hiei- Yeah.. I got this stupid thing after I seen what Ryuji and the others could do with theirs.. I knew it would help me find that floating island I was thrown from.. and you..

Yukina- So you did watch me..


* Hiei feels the warmth return quickly to his sister as she continues talking.


Yukina- You watched me.. and protected me.. The time I wandered too far into the woods and ran into that mother ice cat.. She should have attacked me, but just turned and carried her kitten away.. I felt a.. strange presence nearby just before...


* Hiei doesn't answer. He doesn't have to. The next thing he knows, Yukina blinks over in front of him. She giggles at his surprise, then quickly enbraces him.


Yukina- Oh, Hiei.. I may look like them, but I'm half fire demon, too.


* Hiei closes his eyes. In her innocence, Yukina has no idea what the contact is doing to her heated brother. Hiei tries to resist it as she continues speaking.


Yukina- I know you've had a rough life.. But I still couldn't.. I wouldn't ask for another to be my brother..

Hiei- Y-Yu-kina,..

Yukina- No, Hiei.. I truly mean it..


* The next thing Yukina knows, Hiei's panting mouth has found hers. She gasps startled and it is all the opening Hiei's quivering tongue needs. His strong arms wrap around her, trapping her own arms beneath them gently but securely. When Yukina's brain finally kicks into gear she realizes what is happening and relaxes. In Hiei's state, it isn't until his hands have her kimono worked open that it finally registers to his brain that she's not fighting him. This realization jars his senses enough to make him pull back. Before he can say or do anything else, a mighty blast blows through the back wall of their cell. In a blur Hiei shoves Yukina to the floor and covers her. His body protects her from the debris that rains over them, but one chunk of the stone wall does manage to find its way to the back of Hiei's head. It effectively knocks the koorime out cold so that he doesn't witness the SDF troopers rushing through the hole to rescue them.