Hiei (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
blacktemper) wrote2017-08-16 11:46 pm
blacktemper) wrote2017-08-16 11:46 pm
Entry tags:
application;
OOC Information
Name: Len
Are you over 18?: Y
Contact:hamiltonian
Characters: Reimi Sugimoto |failedhandjob
IC Information
Character: Hiei
Age: He appears to look like a teen, but his actual age is unknown and incredibly difficult to determine thanks to demons' longer lifespan and slower aging. The best estimate is anywhere from 16 to 99 based on known facts about his twin sister.
Canon: Yu Yu Hakusho
Canon Point: Taking a nap in the middle of the Gamemaster fight.
History:
From the beginning, Hiei's life was fraught with suffering and hardship. His mother was a member of the demon race called ice maidens, beings with the ability to crystallize their tears into priceless gems who lived in almost complete isolation from the rest of the world. Every hundred years the ice maidens would conceive and give birth to a near identical child by themselves, therefore continuing their race; Hiei, however, was the result of his mother becoming involved with another demon.
Not only did his birth cause his mother's death, but it was seen as a sign of great misfortune by the other ice maidens. Believing that Hiei was an abomination who would destroy them all if he was allowed to live, the ice maidens attempted to kill him by throwing him from their floating continent of Hyouga. He survived, however, and fell in with bandits.
He quickly gained a reputation as a bloodthirsty and frighteningly powerful demon, even at a young age, willing to discard anything and anyone if it would help him achieve his goals. His vicious nature led even other demons to fear him, and he soon became isolated, traveling from place to place in order to seek out new foes. His only solace during this time was the one memento he had of his birthplace - his mother's tear gem, cried as she was giving birth. He wore it in plain sight in order to attract greedy enemies, but over time grew genuinely attached to it; however, it was eventually lost in a fight with a demon whose strength he'd underestimated.
Following the loss of his tear gem, Hiei sought out the demon surgeon Shigure to solicit his services. In order to locate his tear gem and learn the location of Hyouga, he requested that a jagan eye - which granted its user immense psychic power - be implanted in him. Shigure agreed at the cost of Hiei never being able to tell his sister of their relation should they meet, a price which he was more than willing to pay as he never had any intention of doing so to begin with.
The surgery was a success, but Shigure's price wasn't the only one which he paid for his new ability. The implantation of the jagan eye drained Hiei of all his previous power, lowering his level to that of when he was a child. It did, however, reveal Hyouga's current location to him. Although his intention had been to slaughter all the ice maidens and enact revenge, when he finally arrived he found that the only thing he felt towards them was pity. Their closed hearts and miserable, isolated lifestyle rendered them barely alive in his eyes, and not worthy of killing.
While in Hyouga, he learned that his sister, Yukina, had run away from her community and been captured by unscrupulous demons in the world below. His goal shifted from revenge to locating her, a quest which brought him into contact with Kurama, newly reborn into a human's body. Out of mutual interest they briefly teamed up in order to battle a demon menacing the local area, parting on good terms after succeeding in destroying him.
A year after this incident Hiei would again team up with Kurama, this time to enact a daring heist of some of Spirit World's most valuable artifacts along with a third demon, Gouki. The three parted ways soon after the theft when Kurama expressed no further interest in continuing their partnership, each taking a powerful artifact with them as their spoils. When both of his former partners are defeated by Yusuke, the newly appointed detective of the Spirit World, Hiei expresses disdain for their weakness and resolves to attack Yusuke first rather than wait to be hunted down.
To this end he kidnaps Keiko, Yusuke's childhood friend and repressed love interest, demanding that Yusuke hand over the remaining artifacts to him in exchange for her life. When the swap is made, Hiei's true deception is revealed - he'd already sliced Keiko with his own artifact, a sword capable of turning humans into demons. Without the antidote stored in the sword's hilt Keiko would inevitably transform into a demon under his control, forcing Yusuke to do battle with him.
The fight is intense, but Hiei eventually gains the upper hand. Yusuke is saved by the timely intervention of Kurama, who takes a blow meant for the other boy and manages to blind Hiei's jagan with his blood. This allows Yusuke to fight on more even footing, eventually defeating the demon and saving Keiko.
Some time later Hiei resurfaces, this time as a grudging ally. In order to earn parole for themselves, he and Kurama are obligated to help Yusuke and Kuwabara enter the castle of the four Saint Beasts and defeat them in order to stop their attack on the human world. Although he shows little interest in working as a team (nearly abandoning the others to be crushed beneath a moving ceiling at one point) he proves himself an invaluable asset, defeating Seiryu nearly effortlessly and holding off Suzaku's plant men along with the others so that Yusuke could confront their leader alone.
Following Suzaku's defeat, Hiei was guilted by Kurama into helping Yusuke and Kuwabara fend off an attack by a pair of half-demons looking to take advantage of their weakened state and win glory by defeating them. Rather than accepting Yusuke's thanks he instead delivered a video containing his next assignment; this was a pretext to justify his own involvement with the mission, as it concerned Yukina.
Upon being captured by other demons when venturing out into the Demon World, Yukina was subsequently sold to a corrupt human businessman, Tarukane, with the intent of farming her tear gems and further increasing his own wealth. For nearly two years she'd suffered cruel torture in attempts to bait out her tears, all while hidden behind wards powerful enough to shield her from even Hiei's jagan. With Spirit World finally learning of her plight, Yusuke and Kuwabara were sent to infiltrate Tarukane's manor and rescue her.
Hiei arrives unannounced to help them in the final moments of the mission, preventing Tarukane from escaping and taking Yukina with him. Although he feels nothing but hatred for the man he refrains from killing him for the sake of keeping his blood off his sister's consciousness - and because killing a human would be a violation of his parole. He identifies himself to Yukina only as a friend of the other spirit detectives, making no attempt to broach the subject of their relation and threatening those who know of it with a painful end if they tell her.
Due to Younger Toguro's interest in fighting Yusuke seriously, Hiei finds himself invited to participate in the Dark Tournament along with the rest of the spirit detective team. During the tournament he accomplishes a feat once thought to be impossible - summoning the Dragon of Darkness Flame to defeat his opponent in his first round match. Because of his incomplete mastery of the technique, however, the dragon leaves his arm severely damaged and Hiei in intense pain which lasts long after the conclusion of his match.
While attempting to hone the Black Dragon further, he and Kurama are ambushed by members Dr. Ichigaki's team, who the group are slated to fight in the second round. Both of them are prevented from participating in the official fights by their enemies, although they manage to successfully fend them off and arrive at the stadium to expose Ichigaki's numerous deceptions.
Because of meddling from the corrupt businessman sponsoring the next team, Yusuke and his companions are forced to proceed to the third round immediately and with no ability to recover themselves. They're further handicapped by Genkai and Hiei being declared 'medically unfit' to compete in the round and held prisoner in the nurse's tent by a complicit demon's barrier spell. Hiei is forced to watch the others take on their foes by themselves, although he nearly kills the barrier demon and begins a rampage when Yusuke is disqualified. Thankfully they manage to achieve victory regardless - and during his time out of action, Hiei's arm is able to heal somewhat.
Hiei finally manages to see some real action in the semifinals, taking on two of the opposing team members despite his still-recovering injuries. Although he was prepared to step in for the missing Genkai (and had previously expressed the desire to fight the entire team himself) she arrived before that could happen and finished off their final semifinal bout.
During the finals, Hiei displays the results of the punishing training he's put himself through: complete mastery and control of the Black Dragon. He consumes the dragon after summoning it and uses this enormous boost in power to defeat Bui, destroying half of the stadium in the process of their fight. The strain on his body is enormous, however, and he's forced to sleep for several hours to recover his strength, waking up just in time to witness Yusuke's clash with (and eventual triumph over) Younger Toguro.
Several months after the conclusion of the Dark Tournament, Yusuke is overcome and kidnapped by a group of humans with supernatural abilities who demand that the rest of the group arrive at a specific location if they wish to retrieve him. Hiei is reluctant to engage, but is eventually convinced to accompany the others. Upon arriving at the designated house, they find themselves drawn into the game of Kaito, one of the kidnappers, who possesses the ability to render any word of his choosing 'taboo'. Kaito goads Hiei into saying the forbidden word, upon which is is revealed that the penalty for doing so is losing one's soul. Upon Kurama's defeat of the other boy, his soul is returned safely to his body.
Upon freeing Yusuke, the kidnappers reveal that their ploy was a ruse orchestrated by Genkai to both underscore the group's weaknesses and to inform them of the dangerous event which had granted the three humans their abilities. Despite being entreated to aid them in defeating Sensui and closing his rapidly-widening gate to the demon world, Hiei refuses, stating that he's fulfilled his debts and has no further obligation to the human world or the spirit detectives. He departs with the stated intention of waiting for the gate to fully open so that he could finally return to the demon world.
His stated apathy fails to last for long. When Yusuke finds himself under attack by Sniper, one of Sensui's followers, Hiei reappears and saves his life by skewering the other boy in his sword; it's later revealed that he purposefully missed all of his vital organs and muscles, allowing Sniper to recover without issue. He then intentionally goads Yusuke into a brawl in order to allow him to vent some of the frustration which has been steadily mounting in him since Kuwabara's abduction.
Yusuke attempts again to coerce Hiei into helping them, to no avail. He finally manages to win him over by promising to hand Chapter Black, a videotape containing all of mankind's most heinous crimes in Sensui's possession, over to him once everything was over. He agrees and finally joins Yusuke and the others in entering Sensui's lair and the location of the demon gate.
During their descent they find themselves trapped in the territory of another follower of Sensui, Amanuma. His ability allows him to bring video games to life, forcing the group to participate in his game if they wish to proceed, as the only way his power can be stopped is if the game comes to a conclusion. Acknowledging that his particular set of talents are completely useless in this situation, Hiei instructs the others to wake him when they've won and proceeds to take a nap against one of the room's walls.
Personality:
The world of demons operates on one immutable law: only the strongest survive. There is no room in such a place for things like compassion, and that is especially true in Hiei's case. With his very existence being viewed as a catastrophe, much of his existence has been spent only knowing and giving pain.
From the moment he was born, Hiei has been fueled by one thing: anger. It was this anger towards the people who had so callously discarded him for simply being alive that drove him to survive the fall from Hyouga and dedicate his entire life to returning and slaughtering his own people. The unforgiving world of demons only served to feed this negativity, honing him into a vicious and bloodthirsty menace before he'd ever hit double digits.
Even in the present, where he's forcibly turned over a new leaf, these instincts remain strong in Hiei. His immediate reaction to being faced with a problem is always brutal - he suggests murdering every other occupant on their boat to the Dark Tournament when asked what they'll do if they don't qualify, and constantly threatens grievous harm to those who even light-heartedly make fun of him. To him, the only way to deal with anything in life is through force and domination.
This is in part due to his upbringing, particularly difficult even for a demon. Nothing in Hiei's life has ever been handed to him - on the contrary, there seemed to constantly be nearly insurmountable obstacles standing in the way of what he wished to accomplish. The entire world was against him, and the only way he could achieve victory over it was by becoming stronger than the forces of fate itself.
His strength, both in terms of physical and mental power, is the greatest point of pride in Hiei's life. His extreme confidence often comes across as arrogant, as does the dismissive way he generally treats others. Combined with his hotheadedness this means that he is constantly ready to fight, regardless of who his opponent may be. While he is certainly a fearsomely powerful fighter deserving of his reputation, Hiei's cockiness is one of his greatest weaknesses - he can easily be goaded into confrontations at his own expense, acting impulsively and without thought for possible traps.
While still a criminal, it was said of Hiei that he was willing to discard anything and anyone in pursuit of his goals - and his own power is no exception when faced with his determination to succeed. In order to locate what had been taken from him he was willing to sacrifice all of his abilities in order to attain the jagan, essentially forcing himself to relearn how to fight from the ground up. Koenma comments later that his growth in power was unprecedented given how little time had passed between his surgery and the present - scarcely more than six months.
It's a perfect example of just how unstoppable he can be when he puts his mind to something - and how stubborn he is as soon as he decides to dig his heels in. Hiei is never willing to back down from anything, be it something he's said or a fight he's gotten himself mixed up in. This stubborn refusal to quit is what finally allowed him to master the Black Dragon, but it's also forced him into many compromising situations as well. Despite having been called out on it numerous times by others, his selfsame pride and stubbornness prevent him from even considering improving upon it.
Hiei is someone who has committed countless atrocities for the sake of his own selfish goals, and unlike Kurama never once shows an ounce of remorse for any of them. Despite his cold and violent nature, however, there is genuine compassion buried far below the surface. Without ever intending to reveal their relation to her, he spent two years hunting down Yukina to rescue her from harm and make certain that she was safe. And no matter how much he protests that he doesn't care a whit for what happens to the others in the group, he inevitably moves to help them without fail.
That isn't to say that he's become more trusting over time, however. Despite his repressed attachment for the others, Hiei continues to act in his own self-interest straight through the beginning of the Sensui arc. He refuses to meet Yusuke's kidnappers without being bribed, despite the fact that the lack of his presence may well spell the other boy's end, and flatly shuts down their entreaties to help them close the growing hole to the demon world that, if completed, would mean the end of humanity. He is an intensely private person, refusing to allow others both a glimpse into his thoughts nor the ability to influence him.
This partially stems from Hiei's own inability to completely understand his changing emotions. Before crossing paths with the spirit detective team, his existence had been utterly devoid of warmth and affection; not only did he receive it from no one but he also gave none of it himself, eliminating even allies who were no longer useful to him. He would lash out at others before they could do the same to him, protecting himself from further pain by cutting down even the possibility of true bonds. The only person he needed to rely on was himself, and he intended to keep it that way.
The feelings of protectiveness and honor that began to blossom during his time with the team, therefore, were completely foreign and a potential threat. As he wrestles with this frightening development he continues to shut people out, unwilling to show them his vulnerability. This is most evident in his fight with Seiryu, where Kurama comments that Hiei himself doesn't understand his rage at seeing the other demon cut down his injured comrade, as he himself as done exactly that countless times.
The other reason for his aloof nature are the unresolved (and deeply hidden) feelings of abandonment that he's grappled with his entire life. Despite his claims to be free of fate and shackled to no one's commands but his own, Hiei displays an incredibly fatalistic view of his own situation. Having been unwanted from the moment he entered the world and moved only by his own hatred and fury, he finds himself incapable of fully engaging himself with the group even as he slowly comes to care for and respect all of them.
Later in canon he states the opinion that, having found Yukina and Hyouga, his life is devoid of meaning and all he has left to look forward to is death. For all of his fervent actions to overcome his birth, on an unconscious level it seems that Hiei has completely embraced his role as the Cursed Child and the miserable fate that accompanies it.
Etc: Sorry for the avalanche of words in the history section, the wiki wasn't that great. :c
Persona
Name: Andras
Branch: Combatant
Type(s): Fire, Dark
Style(s): Sorcerer
Passive: Offensive
Writing Sample
Test drive thread.
Name: Len
Are you over 18?: Y
Contact:
hamiltonianCharacters: Reimi Sugimoto |
failedhandjob IC Information
Character: Hiei
Age: He appears to look like a teen, but his actual age is unknown and incredibly difficult to determine thanks to demons' longer lifespan and slower aging. The best estimate is anywhere from 16 to 99 based on known facts about his twin sister.
Canon: Yu Yu Hakusho
Canon Point: Taking a nap in the middle of the Gamemaster fight.
History:
From the beginning, Hiei's life was fraught with suffering and hardship. His mother was a member of the demon race called ice maidens, beings with the ability to crystallize their tears into priceless gems who lived in almost complete isolation from the rest of the world. Every hundred years the ice maidens would conceive and give birth to a near identical child by themselves, therefore continuing their race; Hiei, however, was the result of his mother becoming involved with another demon.
Not only did his birth cause his mother's death, but it was seen as a sign of great misfortune by the other ice maidens. Believing that Hiei was an abomination who would destroy them all if he was allowed to live, the ice maidens attempted to kill him by throwing him from their floating continent of Hyouga. He survived, however, and fell in with bandits.
He quickly gained a reputation as a bloodthirsty and frighteningly powerful demon, even at a young age, willing to discard anything and anyone if it would help him achieve his goals. His vicious nature led even other demons to fear him, and he soon became isolated, traveling from place to place in order to seek out new foes. His only solace during this time was the one memento he had of his birthplace - his mother's tear gem, cried as she was giving birth. He wore it in plain sight in order to attract greedy enemies, but over time grew genuinely attached to it; however, it was eventually lost in a fight with a demon whose strength he'd underestimated.
Following the loss of his tear gem, Hiei sought out the demon surgeon Shigure to solicit his services. In order to locate his tear gem and learn the location of Hyouga, he requested that a jagan eye - which granted its user immense psychic power - be implanted in him. Shigure agreed at the cost of Hiei never being able to tell his sister of their relation should they meet, a price which he was more than willing to pay as he never had any intention of doing so to begin with.
The surgery was a success, but Shigure's price wasn't the only one which he paid for his new ability. The implantation of the jagan eye drained Hiei of all his previous power, lowering his level to that of when he was a child. It did, however, reveal Hyouga's current location to him. Although his intention had been to slaughter all the ice maidens and enact revenge, when he finally arrived he found that the only thing he felt towards them was pity. Their closed hearts and miserable, isolated lifestyle rendered them barely alive in his eyes, and not worthy of killing.
While in Hyouga, he learned that his sister, Yukina, had run away from her community and been captured by unscrupulous demons in the world below. His goal shifted from revenge to locating her, a quest which brought him into contact with Kurama, newly reborn into a human's body. Out of mutual interest they briefly teamed up in order to battle a demon menacing the local area, parting on good terms after succeeding in destroying him.
A year after this incident Hiei would again team up with Kurama, this time to enact a daring heist of some of Spirit World's most valuable artifacts along with a third demon, Gouki. The three parted ways soon after the theft when Kurama expressed no further interest in continuing their partnership, each taking a powerful artifact with them as their spoils. When both of his former partners are defeated by Yusuke, the newly appointed detective of the Spirit World, Hiei expresses disdain for their weakness and resolves to attack Yusuke first rather than wait to be hunted down.
To this end he kidnaps Keiko, Yusuke's childhood friend and repressed love interest, demanding that Yusuke hand over the remaining artifacts to him in exchange for her life. When the swap is made, Hiei's true deception is revealed - he'd already sliced Keiko with his own artifact, a sword capable of turning humans into demons. Without the antidote stored in the sword's hilt Keiko would inevitably transform into a demon under his control, forcing Yusuke to do battle with him.
The fight is intense, but Hiei eventually gains the upper hand. Yusuke is saved by the timely intervention of Kurama, who takes a blow meant for the other boy and manages to blind Hiei's jagan with his blood. This allows Yusuke to fight on more even footing, eventually defeating the demon and saving Keiko.
Some time later Hiei resurfaces, this time as a grudging ally. In order to earn parole for themselves, he and Kurama are obligated to help Yusuke and Kuwabara enter the castle of the four Saint Beasts and defeat them in order to stop their attack on the human world. Although he shows little interest in working as a team (nearly abandoning the others to be crushed beneath a moving ceiling at one point) he proves himself an invaluable asset, defeating Seiryu nearly effortlessly and holding off Suzaku's plant men along with the others so that Yusuke could confront their leader alone.
Following Suzaku's defeat, Hiei was guilted by Kurama into helping Yusuke and Kuwabara fend off an attack by a pair of half-demons looking to take advantage of their weakened state and win glory by defeating them. Rather than accepting Yusuke's thanks he instead delivered a video containing his next assignment; this was a pretext to justify his own involvement with the mission, as it concerned Yukina.
Upon being captured by other demons when venturing out into the Demon World, Yukina was subsequently sold to a corrupt human businessman, Tarukane, with the intent of farming her tear gems and further increasing his own wealth. For nearly two years she'd suffered cruel torture in attempts to bait out her tears, all while hidden behind wards powerful enough to shield her from even Hiei's jagan. With Spirit World finally learning of her plight, Yusuke and Kuwabara were sent to infiltrate Tarukane's manor and rescue her.
Hiei arrives unannounced to help them in the final moments of the mission, preventing Tarukane from escaping and taking Yukina with him. Although he feels nothing but hatred for the man he refrains from killing him for the sake of keeping his blood off his sister's consciousness - and because killing a human would be a violation of his parole. He identifies himself to Yukina only as a friend of the other spirit detectives, making no attempt to broach the subject of their relation and threatening those who know of it with a painful end if they tell her.
Due to Younger Toguro's interest in fighting Yusuke seriously, Hiei finds himself invited to participate in the Dark Tournament along with the rest of the spirit detective team. During the tournament he accomplishes a feat once thought to be impossible - summoning the Dragon of Darkness Flame to defeat his opponent in his first round match. Because of his incomplete mastery of the technique, however, the dragon leaves his arm severely damaged and Hiei in intense pain which lasts long after the conclusion of his match.
While attempting to hone the Black Dragon further, he and Kurama are ambushed by members Dr. Ichigaki's team, who the group are slated to fight in the second round. Both of them are prevented from participating in the official fights by their enemies, although they manage to successfully fend them off and arrive at the stadium to expose Ichigaki's numerous deceptions.
Because of meddling from the corrupt businessman sponsoring the next team, Yusuke and his companions are forced to proceed to the third round immediately and with no ability to recover themselves. They're further handicapped by Genkai and Hiei being declared 'medically unfit' to compete in the round and held prisoner in the nurse's tent by a complicit demon's barrier spell. Hiei is forced to watch the others take on their foes by themselves, although he nearly kills the barrier demon and begins a rampage when Yusuke is disqualified. Thankfully they manage to achieve victory regardless - and during his time out of action, Hiei's arm is able to heal somewhat.
Hiei finally manages to see some real action in the semifinals, taking on two of the opposing team members despite his still-recovering injuries. Although he was prepared to step in for the missing Genkai (and had previously expressed the desire to fight the entire team himself) she arrived before that could happen and finished off their final semifinal bout.
During the finals, Hiei displays the results of the punishing training he's put himself through: complete mastery and control of the Black Dragon. He consumes the dragon after summoning it and uses this enormous boost in power to defeat Bui, destroying half of the stadium in the process of their fight. The strain on his body is enormous, however, and he's forced to sleep for several hours to recover his strength, waking up just in time to witness Yusuke's clash with (and eventual triumph over) Younger Toguro.
Several months after the conclusion of the Dark Tournament, Yusuke is overcome and kidnapped by a group of humans with supernatural abilities who demand that the rest of the group arrive at a specific location if they wish to retrieve him. Hiei is reluctant to engage, but is eventually convinced to accompany the others. Upon arriving at the designated house, they find themselves drawn into the game of Kaito, one of the kidnappers, who possesses the ability to render any word of his choosing 'taboo'. Kaito goads Hiei into saying the forbidden word, upon which is is revealed that the penalty for doing so is losing one's soul. Upon Kurama's defeat of the other boy, his soul is returned safely to his body.
Upon freeing Yusuke, the kidnappers reveal that their ploy was a ruse orchestrated by Genkai to both underscore the group's weaknesses and to inform them of the dangerous event which had granted the three humans their abilities. Despite being entreated to aid them in defeating Sensui and closing his rapidly-widening gate to the demon world, Hiei refuses, stating that he's fulfilled his debts and has no further obligation to the human world or the spirit detectives. He departs with the stated intention of waiting for the gate to fully open so that he could finally return to the demon world.
His stated apathy fails to last for long. When Yusuke finds himself under attack by Sniper, one of Sensui's followers, Hiei reappears and saves his life by skewering the other boy in his sword; it's later revealed that he purposefully missed all of his vital organs and muscles, allowing Sniper to recover without issue. He then intentionally goads Yusuke into a brawl in order to allow him to vent some of the frustration which has been steadily mounting in him since Kuwabara's abduction.
Yusuke attempts again to coerce Hiei into helping them, to no avail. He finally manages to win him over by promising to hand Chapter Black, a videotape containing all of mankind's most heinous crimes in Sensui's possession, over to him once everything was over. He agrees and finally joins Yusuke and the others in entering Sensui's lair and the location of the demon gate.
During their descent they find themselves trapped in the territory of another follower of Sensui, Amanuma. His ability allows him to bring video games to life, forcing the group to participate in his game if they wish to proceed, as the only way his power can be stopped is if the game comes to a conclusion. Acknowledging that his particular set of talents are completely useless in this situation, Hiei instructs the others to wake him when they've won and proceeds to take a nap against one of the room's walls.
Personality:
The world of demons operates on one immutable law: only the strongest survive. There is no room in such a place for things like compassion, and that is especially true in Hiei's case. With his very existence being viewed as a catastrophe, much of his existence has been spent only knowing and giving pain.
From the moment he was born, Hiei has been fueled by one thing: anger. It was this anger towards the people who had so callously discarded him for simply being alive that drove him to survive the fall from Hyouga and dedicate his entire life to returning and slaughtering his own people. The unforgiving world of demons only served to feed this negativity, honing him into a vicious and bloodthirsty menace before he'd ever hit double digits.
Even in the present, where he's forcibly turned over a new leaf, these instincts remain strong in Hiei. His immediate reaction to being faced with a problem is always brutal - he suggests murdering every other occupant on their boat to the Dark Tournament when asked what they'll do if they don't qualify, and constantly threatens grievous harm to those who even light-heartedly make fun of him. To him, the only way to deal with anything in life is through force and domination.
This is in part due to his upbringing, particularly difficult even for a demon. Nothing in Hiei's life has ever been handed to him - on the contrary, there seemed to constantly be nearly insurmountable obstacles standing in the way of what he wished to accomplish. The entire world was against him, and the only way he could achieve victory over it was by becoming stronger than the forces of fate itself.
His strength, both in terms of physical and mental power, is the greatest point of pride in Hiei's life. His extreme confidence often comes across as arrogant, as does the dismissive way he generally treats others. Combined with his hotheadedness this means that he is constantly ready to fight, regardless of who his opponent may be. While he is certainly a fearsomely powerful fighter deserving of his reputation, Hiei's cockiness is one of his greatest weaknesses - he can easily be goaded into confrontations at his own expense, acting impulsively and without thought for possible traps.
While still a criminal, it was said of Hiei that he was willing to discard anything and anyone in pursuit of his goals - and his own power is no exception when faced with his determination to succeed. In order to locate what had been taken from him he was willing to sacrifice all of his abilities in order to attain the jagan, essentially forcing himself to relearn how to fight from the ground up. Koenma comments later that his growth in power was unprecedented given how little time had passed between his surgery and the present - scarcely more than six months.
It's a perfect example of just how unstoppable he can be when he puts his mind to something - and how stubborn he is as soon as he decides to dig his heels in. Hiei is never willing to back down from anything, be it something he's said or a fight he's gotten himself mixed up in. This stubborn refusal to quit is what finally allowed him to master the Black Dragon, but it's also forced him into many compromising situations as well. Despite having been called out on it numerous times by others, his selfsame pride and stubbornness prevent him from even considering improving upon it.
Hiei is someone who has committed countless atrocities for the sake of his own selfish goals, and unlike Kurama never once shows an ounce of remorse for any of them. Despite his cold and violent nature, however, there is genuine compassion buried far below the surface. Without ever intending to reveal their relation to her, he spent two years hunting down Yukina to rescue her from harm and make certain that she was safe. And no matter how much he protests that he doesn't care a whit for what happens to the others in the group, he inevitably moves to help them without fail.
That isn't to say that he's become more trusting over time, however. Despite his repressed attachment for the others, Hiei continues to act in his own self-interest straight through the beginning of the Sensui arc. He refuses to meet Yusuke's kidnappers without being bribed, despite the fact that the lack of his presence may well spell the other boy's end, and flatly shuts down their entreaties to help them close the growing hole to the demon world that, if completed, would mean the end of humanity. He is an intensely private person, refusing to allow others both a glimpse into his thoughts nor the ability to influence him.
This partially stems from Hiei's own inability to completely understand his changing emotions. Before crossing paths with the spirit detective team, his existence had been utterly devoid of warmth and affection; not only did he receive it from no one but he also gave none of it himself, eliminating even allies who were no longer useful to him. He would lash out at others before they could do the same to him, protecting himself from further pain by cutting down even the possibility of true bonds. The only person he needed to rely on was himself, and he intended to keep it that way.
The feelings of protectiveness and honor that began to blossom during his time with the team, therefore, were completely foreign and a potential threat. As he wrestles with this frightening development he continues to shut people out, unwilling to show them his vulnerability. This is most evident in his fight with Seiryu, where Kurama comments that Hiei himself doesn't understand his rage at seeing the other demon cut down his injured comrade, as he himself as done exactly that countless times.
The other reason for his aloof nature are the unresolved (and deeply hidden) feelings of abandonment that he's grappled with his entire life. Despite his claims to be free of fate and shackled to no one's commands but his own, Hiei displays an incredibly fatalistic view of his own situation. Having been unwanted from the moment he entered the world and moved only by his own hatred and fury, he finds himself incapable of fully engaging himself with the group even as he slowly comes to care for and respect all of them.
Later in canon he states the opinion that, having found Yukina and Hyouga, his life is devoid of meaning and all he has left to look forward to is death. For all of his fervent actions to overcome his birth, on an unconscious level it seems that Hiei has completely embraced his role as the Cursed Child and the miserable fate that accompanies it.
Etc: Sorry for the avalanche of words in the history section, the wiki wasn't that great. :c
Persona
Name: Andras
Branch: Combatant
Type(s): Fire, Dark
Style(s): Sorcerer
Passive: Offensive
Writing Sample
Test drive thread.