I had come into my son’s room with the intent of finding something, I don’t remember what, and there he was: a small, black-haired boy lying with his face buried in my son’s pillow. He wore a black cloak, and I was surprised to see a katana at his waist.
When I touched his shoulder I felt him tense, and his hand clenched into a fist; then, after a moment, he turned and faced me with a challenging glare in his crimson eyes.
I didn’t exactly know what to say. After a moment of tense silence I managed to come up with something somewhat intelligent.
“Anou…are you a friend of Shuuichi’s?”
“Hn.”
And then he was gone. He left through the window so abruptly I almost didn’t see him go.
I saw him again when I went to visit my son in the hospital the next day. None of the nurses seemed to have noticed him standing there in the corner of the room. He didn’t acknowledge my presence when I came in, just continued to watch the battered, comatose form in the hospital bed.
I sat in the chair beside the bed and brushed Shuuichi’s bangs back from his forehead. When I looked back at the visitor, he was gone.
That same night I saw him in my son’s room again, but he left immediately.
Over the next month I saw the strange boy from time to time; usually in Shuuichi’s hospital room, occasionally in his bedroom. It never occurred to me to be alarmed by the stranger’s frequent appearances; though he was certainly imposing, despite his stature, I never felt that he intended any harm. He never spoke when I saw him, and always left almost immediately; except for the last time.
He was sitting on Shuuichi’s bed, almost a month from the first time I’d seen him, apparently waiting for me.
“He’ll wake up soon.” He said; this was when I realized that he wasn’t a child, his voice was much too deep. He held something out to me in his open palm; a round black crystal on a silver chain. “Give this to him. He’ll understand.”
“Why don’t you give it to him yourself?” I asked. He didn’t respond, only held out gem for me to take, and I did.
“I never understood the hold you have on him,” He told me. “How you can make him deny everything he is and stay in a world not his own.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. He stood and went to the window. “Wait,” I called after him. “Please tell me your name?”
“Hiei.” He replied.
“Hiei… Is there something you want me to tell him?”
He gave me an assessing look, then nodded slightly. “Tell that stupid fox to take care of himself, and tell him…I loved him.” Then he left.
My son awoke the next day.
Shuuichi was gazing dully out the window after the doctors and nurses had finally cleared out, leaving the two of us alone. Though I had questions; my son still hadn’t said anything about the attack that had nearly cost him his life, I knew that now was not the time.
“Shuuichi?” I asked, resting a hand on his forearm. He turned dull, green eyes to me. “A friend of yours asked me to give you something.” I had put the necklace in a box, which I now gave to him. A flicker of interest entered his eyes, and he opened the box as I continued. “He said that his name was Hiei and—” Shuuichi had seen what was in the box at the same time that I mentioned his friend’s name, and now he drew back as if burned. “Shuuichi?”
“Masaka…” He whispered in a voice harsh from disuse. He carefully picked up the crystal as if he were afraid it would disappear.
“Your friend was here almost every day,” I hesitated, before continuing hesitantly. “He told me to ‘tell that stupid fox to take care of himself,’ and…he said that he loved you.”
“Masaka!” A silvery tear traced down his cheek; and he shook his head in denial. “Masaka da yo!”
“What do you mean?” I asked, softly.
The tears were running freely down his face as he fingered Hiei’s gift, then fastened the chain around his throat. He closed his hand around the black crystal and his eyes drifted shut as he murmured the answer to my question.
“Hiei is dead. He died saving my life in that attack.”
Feed the Muse!