Demons of Death- Battle of Justice (English Version)

Chapter 45- Hiei

Meanwhile, Hiko was standing on a high place and practiced with her bow, which meant, she went through the procedure of positioning herself properly over and over again. She didn't shoot any arrows- she didn't want to waste them. Inside her head, she went through every step Tir'an had told her to hold on to. She closed her eyes and focused when she could hear somebody sneezing. "Huh..? Hold on, that wasn't me..." Hiko lowered her bow. "Is anybody here?" No answer. "Hello?" Hiko looked around and then saw a shadow behind a rock. "You don't need to hide, I saw you.", "Uhhh... s-sorry..." someone replied. And then, a little, white-haired demon looked forth from behind the rock. "You are.... Hiei, aren't you?" Hiko begged that she got the name right. The girl nodded. "Y-yeah... s-sorry for disturbing you...", "You don't disturb me. What's the matter, little one? Anything wrong?", "N-no... I just... I mean..." Hiei turned red and hid behind the rock again. Hiko turned her bow back into a key and put it away. "Are you terrified or something?" she asked. "N-no, excuse me, I just... I... don't... I... Uh... I-I am s-scared of s-strangers.", "Aha..." Hiko nodded slowly. "Okay..." Hiei peeked at Hiko again. "Hiko-chan... C-can I... ask you something?", "Sure. Go ahead." She gave Hiei a kind smile. "Uhm... What's more painful? If someone you trust hurts you... or if someone you hurt still trusts you, after all?" Hiko tilted your head. "Why are you... asking me that?", "I just... d-did... W-was it wrong of me? D-did I bother you?", "No! No, it's okay." Hiko sat down on a stone. "Well... the question you just asked... is a pretty good one, honestly. If I had to be spontaneous, I wouldn't know the answer... But if I had a moment to think about it... I'd say that both is equally painful.", "You think so...?" Hiei asked. Hiko nodded. "Yeah. If someone stabs you in the back, you bleed. But... if you hurt somebody and he still is kind towards you... your bad conscience simply kills you. He may have forgiven you... but you cannot forgive yourself that fast. That's what I think, at least.", "Huh..." Hiei looked at the ground. "Why do you ask?" Hiko asked. "...not important..." Hiko narrowed her eyes. She did notice the sad shimmer in Hiei's eye. But she decided not to ask. Instead, another question formed in her head. "Hiei? May I ask you something in return?", "H-huh? Uhm... s-sure...", "What happened to your eye? Why are you wearing an eye patch?", "Oh, that..." Hiei pulled up her shoulders. "...Well, it's blind.", "Blind? Since birth?" Hiei shook her head. "No... It has been damaged.", "I see... Would you mind telling me more?", "Uuuuh... uhm... s-sure..." Timidly, Hiei came towards Hiko and sat down on a rock next to her. "Uhm... w-well... You know, we were very little when we started to wonder about... w-what the other worlds could be like.", "We?", "Y-yeah... m-my brother and me.", "Your brother? Where is he? I didn't see him yet.", "M-my older brother left." Hiei replied. "H-he's gone...", "Oh... excuse me, I didn't want to...", "It... it is... o-okay, I think..." Hiei stuttered. "We were little... my brother and me... and Mister Azra has always told us tales about the human world... How beautiful it was... a-and... well... we wanted to see it with our very own eyes..." Hiei closed her eyes. "...but we weren't allowed to go there yet... because we were too young. One day, however... A-Azuni wanted to go and so... we two sneaked out of Rauco... A-Auroria had opened a portal and we went through it.... Without anybody noticing it... We finally were there and could see it... See how beautiful it was... b-but then... Azuni wanted to go into the Starfell Forest..." Hiko inhaled. "...That's were all the monsters are." she mumbled. Hiei nodded. "Yeah... N-nobody told us about it... we knew the world was dangerous but nobody told us about monsters... it was in the depths of the night w-when... w-when we went there. And... we... were attacked.", "Oh..." Hiko mumbled. "...T-the monster injured my eye." Hiei continued. "W-we tried to run away but we had absolutely no chance... a-and our magic was way too weak... M-mom however noticed that we were gone and... looked for us... a-and she killed the monster. B-but... s-she died... because of the fatal wounds she got in that fight... s-she tried to protect us... a-and... it's our fault she... died..." Hiei hid her face in her hands and sobbed quietly. "You.... didn't need to tell me, Hiei..." Hiko said. "I didn't want to fuel your sadness..." She hesitated before she put one arm around Hiei's shoulders. Hiei leaned against her and cried. "...Azuni-nii blamed himself so bad he left... H-he... went away... without... saying goodbye to me..." Hiko softly stroke over Hiei's back. "The most painful goodbyes are the ones that were never said and never explained." Hiei said throughout her tears. "...it just hurts so bad...", "I am so sorry for you, Hiei..." Hiko mumbled. "And you are right, it really hurts... But... I am sure your brother had a reason to go. Nobody just simply leaves without any reason at all... And it's not the goodbyes that hurt, it's the flashbacks that follow. The memories, the tears... all of it. But... even though someone leaves your life, it doesn't mean he'll be gone forever. Believe me. You will say hello to each other again.", "You mean it...?", "I sure do. And remember... though you may be left alone to last, you aren't alone at all. You've got the others by your side. True friends are like stars. You can't always see them... but you know they're always there." Hiei looked up to Hiko. "You think so?", "Sure. Friends become our chosen family. They are not always there with you, but they will always be there for you. And that's a fact. With everything that is to come, we'll face it together. To whatever end." Hiei hesitated, but then, she smiled. "...You're right... Everyone here is my family. I just am not allowed to ever forget...", "You see? We are never alone. And it's all that we need to survive. Are you feeling better now?" Hiei nodded. "Yep! I do! Thank you, Hiko-chan!" Hiko chuckled. "Good girl. Enjoy all the moments you'll get to spend with your friends and smile as long as you can! Okay?", "Okay!" she nodded again and Hiko let go of her. Hiei smiled at her. "Thanks for your support, Hiko-chan!" Hiko noticed that Hiei had stopped stuttering. "You're welcome, dear." Hiko looked after her when Hiei went away and then decided to go to Ravarynn.