Yusuke woke up gasping. He sat up and winced as bruises and wounds pained him. What happened? The last thing he remembered was travelling towards the direction where the stolen artifact was located. He tried to recall again. A youko... A black-haired youko had stopped them and they had fought him. No, they didn't... They all passed out from the powerful ki attack. It had been so powerful as it had left them like this. He checked his other teammates. The three were already stirring. All of them looked beaten and weak. Did he look like that as well?

"Gomen." Kurama uttered, making the three others look at him. "This is all my fault. Taka is my enemy not yours."

"It's okay, Kurama." Yusuke told the older boy. "We're a team, remember? Your enemy is our enemy as well."

Kurama shook his head. "No, Yusuke. It doesn't work that way. It had been my fault. Nothing you would say would ever change that."

Yusuke wanted to say more but from the look of Kurama's cold expression, he knew that he musn't. Funny how Kurama could act this way when he could be perfect, sweet Shuuichi Minamino at other times.

Kurama stood up shakily, pain shooting up. Taka was more powerful now. So powerful, in fact. He even had new powers. He hadn't even expected that lightning attack. It had been so damned fast. He slowly walked towards Kuwabara who was nearby and began to heal him.

"No." Kuwabara refused. "Kurama, we need all the ki we need. What if the youko is one of our enemies as well? I think we should put our ki to better use. We should just bandage our wounds and injuries."

Hiei snorted. Since when had Kuwabara the fool ever had brains? But he knew the ningen was right. They had to preserve all the ki they had for later on. They may need it more than they know.
 

They spent the next hour bandaging their wounds. It had not been much but it was still painful. Most were deep but harmless cuts and some were big painful bruises yet somehow, they all managed to survive without anything broken or dislocated.

"Everyone alright now?" Kurama asked his teammates. He felt responsible for what had happened.

They all nodded affirmatively.

"We should go now then." Yusuke said.

With that, they all got their stuff ready again and walked again.
 

They again walked in silence, trying to do nothing else but be aware of their surroundings. They couldn't afford another attack. They should at least be ready if ever another one comes.

"Hiei-chan."

It came from the back. A tall youkai with a humanoid shape and short blond hair was staring at Hiei with a smile on his face. His black onyx eyes were gleaming.

"Who are you?" Hiei demanded. He didn't know that man. Who could he be? Why did he know his name?

"Why, Hiei-chan, have you chosen to forget about me?" the creature asked. He then looked at the others. "You found friends? Someone actually chose to hang out with a bastard child like you?"

Yusuke and his team glared at the man as they made their stances. They should be prepared now.

The blond-haired man merely laughed. "You all are nothing but boys!"

Some flashbacks hit Hiei. Someone calling his name in a soft whisper. Darkness. Coldness.

"Hiei-chan." the youkai said again, turning his gaze back at the small demon. "My you've grown. It's only been a few short years. Oh, but that had been your lifetime, ne?"

Hiei growled, warning the youkai. He didn't like people who knew too much about him. Whoever this was, he was going to kill him and turn him to nothing but ashes. Speedily, he flitted away and slashed his sword at the youkai.

The youkai smiled as a katana suddenly appeared at his hand and blocked Hiei's attack. "Don't you remember me?"

Hiei just scowled as they made a stand-off. How did the youkai know how he would move?

"Hiei-chan, remember."

Darkness. Coldness. Chains. Laughter. Why was he remembering those things? It didn't make any sense.

"From your childhood, Hiei-chan." the youkai said, kicking Hiei in the stomach, making him hurl towards the ground nearby. "Early childhood."

"Hiei!" Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara cried out as they witnessed their friend land on the ground with a thud.

Hiei stood up, ignoring the pain his body had received. He could take this. He had gone through so much pain before.

"Remember me now?" the youkai asked again.

Hiei flitted once more, katana in his hand as he prepared to strike from the back.

The youkai smiled as he turned around and hit Hiei again in the stomach. "Hiei, Hiei, Hiei."

Hiei glared at the youkai again as he stood up.

"Thirteen years ago, a group of bandits were in Northern Makai." the youkai began with a smile.

Hiei listened carefully with a dark expression. Who could this be now?

"They picked up a child from a river. He was still hours old then and they raised him. They never named him for not even his own mother loved him. They used him as their tool, a weapon for stealing, for getting what they wanted. He rose to power so fast that at five years old, a scared fool let him go. He had already been an A-class by then. And during his first five years, someone had taught him how to fight." the youkai told the little koorime.

Hiei knew that story. It was his'. He prepared to attack again.

"That someone..." the youkai said as he blocked Hiei's attack yet again. "is me."

Hiei tried slashing his opponent yet again but everytime, he was blocked. Then the youkai hit him in the back, making him hurl towards a tree. He stood quickly, not wanting to show that he's pained. He didn't care if this was one of the bandits who had raised him before. That part of his life has been over. It had ended in betrayal and abandonment as all other parts of his life was. He eyed the youkai with a deep, heated glare that would send anyone fleeing away in no time.

"My name is..." the youkai said. "Koji the murderer. Don't worry child. We'll meet again." With that, he disappeared from sight.

Hiei's eyes widened as that name was uttered. Koji...the murderer. It was all coming back now. A tormentor he had chosen to forget. Koji...his master. Koji who had taught him how to kill, how to hate. The terrible memories came flashing back all in an instant and he couldn't hold it. He slowly sank to his knees as he remembered again...kneeling before someone in defeat and in agony. He bowed his head.

"Hiei?" Kurama and Yusuke asked simulataneously.

Kuwabara stared at the young youkai with concern as well. He could feel his muffled emotion. Pain. Endless pain.

Hiei then looked up at them, an angry glare set. "None of your business." he managed before he flitted away.
 

Hiei held on to himself as he hid amongst the thick leaves of a huge tree. It had been terrible. Memories flooding back, drowning him in so much hurt.

He knew Koji. Koji had taught him to use a sword...had taught him to kill. He remembered killing his first victim and shuddered. He didn't want to kill. He was only a small innocent infant then. Just more than a year old actually. Koji had forced him to kill, threatening that if he didn't, he would just get a harder punishment later on. The punishment - so brutal, especially for a small child who had no idea what was happening, why everyone hated him so much. The punishment - so traumatizing, so painful.

So he had killed. He killed with fear and from that moment on, he killed until it it didn't matter anymore. After that, he had begun to kill without mercy hoping that that would bring justice to his own cruel fate of having that life; wishing that through killing, his heart would turn cold until he cared no longer, that he was numb with all the pain that was being inflicted on him.

Hiei closed his eyes. His wish had come true. He had become cold...but then, the pain never left him. It had always been there and it will always be there. He also had been right. He knew from that first time of ending a life that once he had killed, he will never stop. It will go on until he himself would be considered dead as well - in spirit and in heart...and in soul.