Silence.

He waited for a couple more seconds.

More silence.

Hiei couldn't stand it anymore. The silence was deafening. It was already irritating his ears. He opened his eyes.

Darkness - As if his eyes were still closed.

He began to move. He found out that he was sitting on the cold floor and leaning against a wall. He stood up.

More darkness.

He would search for a light - For any light. He couldn't make out what was around him. His hands began to move clumsily in front of him, trying to find his way through the darkness.

But nothing was on his way. He continued walking until he bumped against another wall. It felt cold - just like the wall he was leaning on while he was sitting on the other side. He blindly searched for a knob - but he couldn't find one. He knocked on the wall. It wasn't hollow on the other side.

He turned left, his hands still guiding him. Seconds passed until he reached another wall - another dead end. He again searched for a knob and tested if it was hollow on the other side - no such luck. It was as hard as the other wall and as cold.

He turned left again. But his search for a way out was still unsuccessful. He did that again and again until he figured that he was closed in by four walls. Four thick walls with no way out.

He needed light. He felt the bandage on his right arm - but there weren't any. He summoned his Black Dragon - controlled its flame at the palm on his hand until it was enough to fill the room with purple light.

He was indeed closed in a room. In an empty room. The walls were the same with the ceiling and the floor. All of them made with the same material.

He turned around and observed the other half of the room. It was all the same. There was no way out. Or there is no "humanly possible" way out.

He walked at the far end of the room. The flame on his right palm grew bigger until he thought it was enough to destroy the other wall. He unleashed the Black Dragon and watched it burn the wall down.

But it didn't. The flames spread through the four walls, and the ceiling and the floor. The heat was enough to fry anything to dust. Anything that is, except for the walls of the room.

The room momentarily lit up with the blinding purple light coming from his Black Dragon. Hiei found himself surrounded by the roaring fire. Its flames going berserk like a madman. He could hear the loud cry of the Black Dragon as it gave up on the wall.

The fire died down as quickly as it spread throughout the room, leaving only the excruciating heat.

Again the room was dark.

Hiei froze. He was unable to move from shock - he couldn't believe what just happened. His Black Dragon wasn't powerful enough to destroy the walls on the room. He was dumbfounded.

He summoned his Black Dragon again. But not to burn down the room again - because somehow it couldn't burn down the room. A little flame played at his right palm, giving out enough light to fill the room.

The walls were the same as it was before the Black Dragon touched it. Flawless. Even the ceiling didn't bear traces of smoke. It was all Black Dragon-proof. As if it was made to deny the power of the Black Dragon.

How could he get out of this place?

Moreover, what was this place? How did he get in here?

He felt that the cloth covering his Jagan was already gone. He closed both of his eyes as the Jagan on his forehead opened. In this way, he could see what was behind these walls.

Only after a few seconds, his eyes flew open. His expression shocked - his Jagan couldn't see anything past the walls. He couldn't even see what happened before he was closed in this room or what would happen in the near future. All his Jagan could see was darkness and nothing more.

Somehow this place was also defying his Jagan!

He tried to remember what transpired before he got here. But the images on his memory were blurry.

Nothing came to his memory.

He tried harder. His eyes closed and his brows deep in a frown.

He saw images of Yukina. His sword. Blood. His necklace. Screaming. Fire. A lot of fire. A rain of fire?

He couldn't remember everything clearly. All he could make out were bits and pieces of it.

He felt something on his left hand. It had been closed all this time. He opened it to look at what it was holding.

Pearls?

There were pearls clutched in his left hand. There were six of them all varying in sizes. Five of them white and the biggest was black. A black pearl. He never remembered seeing a black pearl all his life.

The white pearls. He was sure they were his sister's tears. They were Yukina's tears. What could have happened that made her cry? And what about the black pearl? Was it his?

He didn't know. He couldn't remember crying all his life. Had he cried? Why? For what reason?

It was all puzzling him. He continued to stare at the pearls. Hoping that he would remember everything.

Minutes had passed and still his memory blurred. He caught his reflection on the smooth surface of the pearls. There was dried blood all over his hair, a cut on his chin and smoke stains on his cheeks.

What had happened?

He suddenly felt tired. With the pearls in his hand and the light on his right palm he walked towards the corner of the room. He sat and leaned on the wall.

He closed his right hand. The flame on it instantly died and darkness surrounded him once more.

He stared at nothingness. He doesn't have any clue where he is or what he is doing here. A thought suddenly struck him - was he dying?

Dying. He had no food, no light, and soon air might be gone. Yes, he was dying. For the first time since he opened his eyes to this utter darkness he was sure of something.

Death. Such a strong word.

Had he not wished for it? For so long he had lured death to come and get him. For so long he had played with his life. He had seen it come to him several times but it never took him away - For whatever reason he didn't know. And finally, it had arrived and with it Hiei followed.

He opened his left hand and let go of the pearls he had been holding. He heard them bouncing on the cold floor and rolling off to somewhere until the loud silence filled his ear again.

Hiei closed his eyes. What could have happened to Yukina?

Yukina. His twin sister. Did she know about them being twins? He wouldn't know. He frowned at the thought of letting Yukina know he was her twin brother. He had tried to ask himself why he wouldn't allow it for so many times but in all those times no rational reasons came up in his mind. He was just too stubborn, too hardheaded, and too proud to admit that he had longed for the love of a kin.

Was he admitting all that now? Yes, he was. After all, death would soon come and whatever he admitted it now wouldn't make any difference at all - no damaged ego, no shattered pride.

Twice he had tried to tell Yukina. Those times when he was already breaking down inside and nobody knew. But he didn't. Somehow something inside him feared rejection. What if Yukina looked at him with disappointed eyes once he told her? He couldn't even think of it without cursing himself.

Cursed. That was one of the words he remembered the town people of Koorime used to call him. He had hated it then and still hated it now. And what were the others? Waste. Doomed. Condemned. Wretched. Damned.

He smirked at those thoughts. Why hadn't he punished them for what they did to him when he had the chance? He didn't know. Maybe he wasn't as insensitive as he thought he was. Maybe he pitied the people of Koorime. For what reason? He hadn't had the chance to dwell on it before and now he had forgotten. But whatever it was he sill couldn't decide whether to be thankful for it or not.

But was he a waste? With all the fighting, with all the blood, with all the crimes, was he not worth of anything? He only hoped the opposite. He had tried to convince himself that he was valuable. He thought he believed it. He had even pretended to only care for himself. But he ended up feeling alone, unworthy, and no one to run to.

Contrary to his actions, he was insecure of himself. He felt inferior to almost everyone. But he never told anyone that. He had seen them fear him. But he never wanted anyone to fear him. He might seem to be unfeeling, bloodthirsty. But that was all a front. He never wanted to fight but he felt like he was not given any other choice - like a parrot caged to mimic sounds. And so he did what he thought he should do in his own cage, fight. And become invincible. But what did he really want?

It all came down to one thing, acceptance. In the society where he grew up, fighting skill was something to be proud of. And that was exactly what he developed to be accepted. But what happened? When he become to be more powerful than the others, he was shooed away. He couldn't understand it. And so he fought and fought. He became the monster everyone thought he was. They didn't know he hated himself, and the only way he could express himself was to kill.

Hiei shook his head to get rid of all the thoughts of his past. He shouldn't dwell on it now. He had been doing so all his life and now it was time to rest.

Rest. That was something he always wanted to do. He closed his eyes. He would just wait for it to come, for Death to come. And maybe, just maybe, he'd feel the freedom he had been longing for.

~ The End ~