Ikigai (Hiei x OC)

REBIRTH

TW: mention of child rape and self-mutilation. The latter is described in more detail than the former. Please read at your own discretion <3

Numb and exhausted, Hiei trudged through the snow, his cowl hiked up high against the blistering winds. He could not seem to get warm enough, no matter how much heat he summoned from within. How had he even gotten here in the first place? A wrong turn? But where?

There were voices in the distance. Cold. Familiar.

He crept forward, and the woods around him vanished into blackness. Two women stood around a pale fire, whispering back and forth.

"Did you hear? Hina gave birth to twins. And one of them is a boy."

They began to multiply. Three, then four, then five.

"He is a curse upon all of us," the elder spat. Her hatred turned his blood to ice.

The scene changed, and another woman screamed. "My baby!" Mother. "I beg you, give him back to me!"

A bundle was ripped from her arms, and a baby began to wail.

"No. The imiko must be destroyed!"

Suddenly, he was small. Carried in a crying woman's arms. He looked up at her, unable to speak, unable to negotiate his freedom. But even if he could form words, what would he say? These women deserved to die for their cruelty. Separating a mother from her son, leaving them both stranded in the cold. There was no forgiveness for an act like that.

He'd made up his mind, as she brought him to the cliff's edge. Wrapped in those bandages, he could not inflict damage, could not free himself. Even if he managed to, his legs were not yet strong enough to run. If this was to be his fate, then theirs was sealed in stone.

The woman holding him hesitated. He stared into her eyes, silently begging her not to do it. There was no guarantee he survived this fall.

"Rui!" the elder screamed through the howling winds. "Do not pity the beast."

"I beg you, Rui, don't!"

I'm sorry, mother. Sorry that I could not be what you needed.

And then he was falling. The freezing air blew past, his body becoming heavier with every inch he dropped. Pulled towards the ground. Spiraling. It was endless.

His head shot up, eyes taking in the shadowy forest around him. That dream again...

Half a year had passed since Kirin brought him down to the dungeons, and lately, his dreams had grown darker. Never knowing when Mukuro would unleash the next batch of foes, he kept his time sleeping to a minimum, only enough to keep his energy steady.

He thought of Airi, as he did each time he woke. Time had dulled his memory. No longer could he close his eyes and feel her touch, or remember the softness of her hair threaded between his fingers. She was barely more than a whisper, now, and he could not spare the attention to live in the Jagan's recollections.

The end had to be near. He'd killed four hundred and seventy-two A-class demons. Their corpses rotted in stinking piles all around him. A glance down at his bandaged arm reassured him. Thus far, he hadn't required more than his katana and scant use of the Darkness Flame to get the job done.

Murmurings traveled to his ears. Off in the distance, they were plotting another attack.

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