Winter's Halo

Complicated Introductions

What could he do?

Such a simple question that needed a complicated answer. How should he know what he would do with a child? Hiei had no intentions of becoming anyone's guardian and yet he couldn't find himself detaching the conspired bond sealed between him and the Little Fool.

The bothering confliction pulsing in his crimson eyes explained plenty for Kurama who'd been a little concerned about how this demon would treat his god son. But for him to be this troubled with a basic decision proves his attachment to child is more complex than even he realized. Although even if he was hard up on a choice one thing did remain clear and that was involving Kisa's residence here. A decision needed to be made now. "If," Kurama begin, startling the fire demon from his mental battle, "You decide to keep Kisa with you there are some conditions needing to be addressed."

The earlier scowl of hidden emotions returned in an instant on Hiei's face. "Such as?"

A similar stoic flash appeared in Kurama's eyes. "Under no circumstance is Kisa allowed to leave these grounds and should you decide to be on your way the boy stays here with me."

Hiei narrowed his eyes as his hand automatically pushed the protruding head inside his shirt as if to protect the babe from the verbal crossfire. "Do you honestly expect me to heed the restricted agreement of a human?" He chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. "Either you've lost your mind residing with demons or you're naturally foolish as the implication reserves for your kind."

"Should you decide to stay, Kisa will be allowed to accompany you on a scheduled visit every so often as I so choose." Kurama continued flatly, ignoring the Koorime's insult, much to his irritation. "Based on your solitary behavior, I doubt you live in just one place therefore you don't have any reasons not to stay here with the child."

"If you know of my isolated behavior, then you should know I don't enjoy the company of others." Hiei sat back in his chair, slightly shaking his head. "I prefer the quietness of being alone. Silence is the only companion I've had for this long. It's the only company I desire."

Kurama paused, then on a softer note spoke. "If that were the case, why even fight to keep Kisa by your side? If seclusion is what you truly yearn for then the boy is of no use to you."

Hiei shot a harsh glare before averting his eyes to a spot of the cave. Looking all over the well-styled establishment would be better than staring into those frosted sage eyes. The same eyes trying to decipher him like an unsolvable mystery. He despised that look more than anything since meeting this savage. As if all knowing and intelligent beyond his years, this damned human spoke to Hiei as if being his equal when the fact was he was barely pass the ranks of a mere slave. Yet Hiei was allowing this thing to speak to him for the sake of a child.

Yes sickness has made his constitution weaker. A week ago he would've slit his throat in the next breathe. Something would have to be done about this but for now… "I need time to think it over," Hiei stood from the table and reached in his shirt for the pup, who'd fallen asleep against his chest from the confined warmth. Crazed little brat would sleep anywhere it seems. "Here," Hiei placed the slumbering babe on the table and walked out of the discussion without much else to say, leaving Kurama to release the stored up disappointment and tiny spark of pity he felt for the demon who only showcased true animosity towards him.

A common opinion of bitter hatred made on his person often. Hed grown used to the sour taste demons bestowed him so the snide remarks upon his heritage did nothing to bruise his pride. Though it times he wished he could go a single day without having to listen to those brazen nouns.

This character seems to have suffered a little of the same it seems.

When Kurama seen that unwanted loneliness in those slanted eyes, he couldn't figure out why sympathy was what he felt for the young Koorime more over then his anger. The defiance and spiteful arrogance of this demon left much for true conversation but that steeled glint of a hard lived life was unmistakable. Who knows what types of destruction he's witnessed and how much mistrust he's been forced to seen. All of which made him into the disturbingly dangerous demon he was today.

Kurama could vaguely remember their first encounter in the forest. He had to admit—he lifted his hand to the faded pink scar around his neck—the demon was fast. Had he not be smart enough to counter he would've surely lost his head. A formidable foe, one that could easily make for an excellent sparring partner, the scarlet haired human though with a smile. That is if he decides to stay here. Maybe, maybe if they could look past their differences and difficulties being within each other's company, perhaps something could be arranged.

Which means someone was going to have to take the first step in bridging that gap.

---

Hiei stepped out the Youko's cave, finally releasing the pint up confusion and anger buried in his mind. He was angry to the point of melting whatever life form to come in his way—a small butterfly fluttered in his line of view and met the unfortunate crisp of his flames and glided down to sizzle away a hellish death. That minor speck of blood did nothing to deter his emotional turmoil, one that he'd so blindly placed himself in. Him stay here? Under the conditional choices of a human? The absolute absurdity of it was almost laughable.

How could he position himself in such a state? How could he put a damn child before his goals? Damn how could he allow such a thing to happen—If that's what he was permitting to happen.

The sun's positioning casted a haloing glow over the horizon's lining, shadowing off the lands dimming life. It would be sunset soon marking the longest time Hiei's stayed in a single location. Three, no four, four days he's been here based by the scent of his body, he's stayed in this ungodly fortress for far too long. He reeked of foreign territory. In four days his skin has soaked up the scent of renewal, not belonging to him. And in that lapse of time, this was the very first time he'd analyzed the surrounding territory with a critical eye.

As Hiei scanned over the chilly grounds, he began to pinpoint examined facts of his findings. One entrance, the overall radius was a circular dimension encased by what he speculated to be a thorn rose wall.

If need be, it'd take two well bound leaps to get over the barrier's impressive height. That is if he were fool enough to try. If it weren't for the natural pulse of his strategistic minding, he wouldn't have noticed the faint purplish mist floating above the wall. One inhale of that powdery fog and he'd be dead within seconds. No doubt the foggy poison was a chemical gas produced by that wall of roses.

No way in or out without notice. The perfect organized design guaranteeing no sort of unwanted threats or exiting captives within the place. A clever scheme he had to admit. If Hiei were any other demon of course. There was a way out of this place. He'd discover it soon enough. For now he'd have to bind his time till a suitable gimmick could be set.

After the brief mental course of action continued on, a sudden shimmer gleamed off the surface of an object blocked by the sun's setting rays. Above; out the corner of his peripheral upper right something hovered overhead. On instinct his hand went for the hilt of his sword—it wasn't there. Damn he'd forgotten every valuable item was stripped from his person whilst in the throes of his illness.

Next impulse, he glanced up lifting his hand, palm spread open, fingers flexed. Heat discreetly boiled into his hand, transforming the calloused skin into a subtle auburn, radiating the building of surfacing flare. In the next second a circling sphere rolled in a perfect rotation—he stepped forward and thrust the boiling fireball to the floating threat . . .

---

"What the?" A tiny spark tinkled as bright as a star light's wink. What was that guy doi—

Kuronue caught the whiffs of sizzling, spiced cinders swirling in the atmosphere. "Shit." As soon as he flapped his raven wings to dart off the left, the ball of fire surged toward him in a rapid fire grazing the edge of his feathery extension. In a state of astonishment, he lifted a hand to touch the singed ebony blue that was once his perfectly groomed left wing and sighed sadly. Son of— "Whoa!" Three more blasts shot pass, narrowly dodged. This guy wasn't joking around.

Another fire ball shot off and this time Kuronue was prepared the ember assault. Both hands reached around opposite sides of his waist to retrieve twin curved Draco Daggers, slicing the hurling projectile in two dissolving pieces. In a twisted cork screw, wings spread wide and sharp, Kuronue back flipped into a spinning nose drive, blades spread to each end of his hands.

Hiei staggered back and positioned his hands together, forming a hurried summon of enlarging apricot orange flames to counter the air assault. The ear piercing rings of whistling assails shot out one after the other, easily dodged by the one who carried the better advantage in the sky. "Damn," Hiei had a split second to breathe as the colliding force of massive strength, empowered steel stabbed into the ground before him, tearing a crack into solid earth.

By the slowest motions Hiei's hand stand placed him face to face with a pair of deep blue cobalt eyes, and a mischievous smile before the image was replaced with the flash of polished blades. The feel of metal slashing through his flesh increased the adrenaline flow in his blood, propelling him back to land on his feet. The stinging warmth of hot liquid pearled over the cut of his cheek and eased down to drip off his jawline.

The stinging sensation was purposely ignored as Hiei made a quick examination of what he was up against.

A tall wing-like demon, seven heads tall at best. Appearance mostly dark but skin wise he was ashen as chilled death. Fighting style clever but unsteady. This wasn't going to be an easy approach. The enemy was guarded on all ends. Both blades erect on each end of his hand, both wings spread wide in preparation for a possible escape. What would be his best approach for catching this creature off guard?

"Hm," Kuronue chuckled and shrugged. This little sprite was something else. A ball of rapid fire in the shape of a pint sized delicacy. It's been a while since something other than gems caught the Chimera's eye. And this little jewel was definitely catching his eye. The lean structure of muscle impressively pressed against the front of his ragged shirt and the way his legs stayed spread open put some suggestive ideas in his mind. Ah yes the raven youth just loved life's unexpected developments. I can think of a lot of things to get rid of those energetic spurts with this little hot chili pepper, Kuronue thought in a blissful eye close.

Bad mistake. Hiei dashed forward, pulled back a fist concealed in a ball of crimson and licking oranges— his hand connected with the front of cold steel. Blistering cerise orbs connected with amused indigo. For the longest elevated second, Hiei wanted to claw the bastard's smug look off his skull.

Kuronue felt the shaky pressure from the impact and swirl off the small assailant. Hiei dashed back, defense in full gear.

"Hey," Kuronue slung one blade on his shoulder and the other on his hip. "Don't cha know its rude to fight someone without tellin' your name first—Damn!" Kuronue blocked another fist blow again feeling the exerting clash of this little sprite's anger. "Hm, I see you prefer action over words. I like that."

The repressed urge to growl failed. Hiei kicked off the other's chest and landed in a skidding crouch to his knee, eyeing the bird-like villain with the cruelest glare.

Oh if looks could kill . . . Kuronue sighed clanging his blade tip to his hat as if in deep thought. Yoko's gonna kill him if he hurts this little guy but what other options were there? He wasn't just going to sit there and take it like a—nevermind. "Look kid, do you think you can settle down? I'm not in the mood to fight cha."

Hiei scoffed at the kid implication. "Excuse me?"

"Ah, so you do have a voice."

Did every living, breathing soul in this vicinity have a smart remark for every state he said? Hiei rolled his eyes and stood, cracking his neck and arms loud enough to make the Chimera cringe. Without so much as a chanced blink, Hiei lunged forward ready for another frontal to catch the dark beast off guard.

Kuronue hadn't anticipated the sudden change and had no time to block. The fire demon was only ten feet away, swirls of pulsing fire clasped tightly in his grasp, too close and too quick to counter or escape. He had to time to deflect it back, no time to fly off, but he had only quick sec to think about how much this was going to hurt and closed his eyes, braced for the agonizing burn.

He waited and waited and waited, but the fire never touched his skin. Not even a little sizzle. Kuronue peeked one eye open to see a flicker of platinum crouched between them, a long tan arm holding the wrist of his potential murderer. Oh fuck him sideways, he was in some deep shit now. "Hey Chief."

Yoko stood up with Hiei in his grip, and glanced over his shoulder. "Kuronue."

"Yeah?"

A long stretched pause floated for effect. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you."

"Because I uh. . ." Better think of a good one. "I, well ya see the thing is; I was flying up here like you said, minding my own business, when this guy," He pointed dramatically to the little demon hanging by his wrist, "Attacked me for no reason!"

Yoko turned a softer gaze to the steam eyed Koorime and lifted a cool brow. "Since you're a guest here I'll let the incident slide but do keep in mind that I'd prefer you didn't attack my subordinates."

Hiei yanked his arm free and dropped to the ground eyeing both all demons with true disdain.

The loud commotion of clashing energies and increased surges youki summoned another soul from within the barriers of his home to witness the gathering of three demons, two of which he wasn't expecting to see until later tonight. "Yoko, Kuronue." Kurama greeted indifferently whilst his gaze fell to the main source of all the activities. "I see you've met."

"Yeah," Kuronue grumbled returning his weapons to his waist. "The little chili pepper damn near singed my eyebrows off."

"Excuse me?" Hiei visibly flinched in obvious disbelief. "You were the one flying about prepared for an aerial assault. I was defending myself!"

"Say what? I was not!"

"Kuronue. . ."

Kuronue paused in his back and forth, shifting his gaze to the right. "Yo?"

Yoko jerked his thumb over. "Guard duty till I say otherwise."

"Ah Chief come on, that's grunt work—Gah," The look of pure murderous intent, made him think differently. "Fine," he sighed shaking his head defeatedly and took off.

Kuronue huh? Hiei'd have to remember the bastard's name come the next time he chose to show his ass like that again.

Yoko watched the young Chimera fly off to one of the command posts and relaxed enough to address the other trouble maker properly. "So then, since you're becoming better acquainted with my men I'm assuming things were taken care of?" Question being directed to both people in view.

"Nothings' set in stone just yet." Kurama explained calmly.

"I see."

Closing his eyes and calmly looking between the two curiously, Hiei was left with a mildly confused expression as to how these two were associated with one another. It hadn't come to him until just now that they knew one another.

"Our relationship is no concern of yours," Kurama answered the silent question.

Hiei caught himself before a retaliated revolt responded through his fists instead of his lips. This human was seriously ticking him off. "I didn't ask what your association with this Youko was. As you've said it's no concern of mines whether you're his friend, slave, partner or whore—"

The insulting barb seemed to hit home when a noticeable twitch flinched the slender crimson brow above his eye. Unfortunately the one time Hiei decides to drop his guard, the grasp of long digits curled around his neck, slammed Hiei flat on his back, a suffocating grip clenching his esophagus. The back cracking attack knocked whatever oxygen out of his lungs in a gagged gasp as he temporarily lost focus of his eyes.

Through the blinding white light obstructing all sight, he heard the raspy declaration that explained all he needed to know. "Should you think to breathe another negative remark upon my mate's name, there won't be a second chance."

Crimson eyes blurred from the strangling lack of air, Hiei had to grab a hold of the large hand to loosen it for air. The tone of the Youko's words weren't as threatening as the killer gripe this devil possessed. Such strength in someone who hardly looks as heavy as his power.

"I—I," The grip on Yoko's arms tightened, nails breaking the flesh on his arm. "I heed no warnings," he coughed, "You'll kill me for saying what that human is to you? Fool, I'll fucking kill you . . . before . . . before you got the chance."

Strangely, the daring arousal to a future challenge appealed more to the fox demon's interests and then his grip loosened. Hiei flitted to the side, holding his sore throat, and spat up the raw iron taste soaking the inner contours. Jaw set in a tight clench, Hiei shook off the sudden infliction. "What's your name?" He found himself suddenly asking both people. Reason why he had no idea but to be taken down by this creature not once but twice and by that human as well? They were all well pass the introduction phrases by now.

"Just my name or both of ours?" Yoko asked.

"Both."

There was a long tension filled pause settled over the three facing men, as uneasy and imbalanced as the snow's fall. Defiant clashes of the emerald sea, the glowing sun and enraged flames slammed into each other before Yoko finally broke through the thick distress with a chuckled respond.

"Yoko. Yoko Kurama."

Kurama secondly answered just as calmly. "The whore you imply me to be is known by his original title, Shuichi Minamino, but I have taken Yoko's name as Kurama." Despite being called out his name, Kurama stepped forward to stand before the caution Koorime and boldly reached out his hand to unclasp the hand circling a sore throat.

And strangely Hiei let him. They kept their eyes on each other, as Kurama coated his hand against the pink hand print and released a cooling sensation against the flesh with a ki Hiei suddenly recognized as healing properties similar to ice spirits.

"By now it would be appropriate to give us your name since you now know ours."

Hiei stared into the lonely green eyes he despised to his very core and swallowed enough of his pride to ignore the brazen scent of human flesh touching him and whispered the name he'd been cursed with since his birth. "Hiei. My name is Hiei."

---

TBC: I know the pace is slow but remember I said this was a long story and I can't rush them getting to know each other. ^_^