Background
According to the Korime, the Maidens of Ice, the rest of the demon world and demon kind were the cause for wars and suffering. Double negative if they were men to boot. They had removed themselves from the rest of the world to live in their sad “Utopia” lifestyle. Every one hundred years of their life, they give birth, producing asexually, to a baby girl that looked exactly like the mother. And when not just one, but two babies were born of Hina, it became clear she interacted not just with the outside world, but a male fire demon. It was believed that the child would cause a calamity and bring disaster to the isolationists, so he was to pay the price for his mother’s “crimes.” He was wrapped with in a cocoon of papers to remove the “evil” and then thrown off of the mountain to die.
Hiei had survived the fall, and was taken in by a group of Brigadiers. The fire demon grew rather cocky under their care. Taking whatever he wanted, picking fights, and even using the necklace tear stone, the only thing he had of his mother’s, as bait. In the end he wound up loosing it the only thing precious to him. He gained a goal in life, other than fighting, and elicit the help of the Jagan Surgeon to implant a third eye into his forehead to find what was lost. It was a life or death gamble, and again Hiei revealed how durable he was. And thanks to his strength decreasing to nearly nothing, he also had the surgeon train him to fight. Hiei had to pay two fees for these services. One was to recount his whole story to the surgeon, Shigure. The other was yet to be administered by him.
Having the jagan eye proved little help on finding his beloved necklace. It was hidden where his eye wouldn’t be able to see (turns out later in the mouth of some demon chick) and thus he turned his attention to revenge. Hiei sought out to where the Korime’s lived in isolation with every intention on destroying them. What he came upon was a pathetic sight of a group and Hiei wound up taking pity on them. He ran into the one who threw him off in the first place, Ri, who informed him of both his mother’s suicide thanks to the guilt of loosing her son, and that he had a twin sister by the name of Yukina. Yukina had learned that she had a brother, and Ri believed she had left to find him. Hiei had decided, after much thought, to use his eye to find his sister instead and to watch over her. He stopped by Shigure to pay him for the sword lessons. The second price to be paid was for Hiei to never reveal to Yukina that he was her brother.
His search for his sister eventually led him to the human world where he crossed paths with one Shuuichi Minamino, the human form of a notorious fox bandit, Yoko Kurama. From then on, they built a rather odd alliance, taking out a demon together, and helping one another up until another twist in the path brought them to the new Spirit Detective. There were three treasures of interest to Hiei. Whether or not it would lead him to his sister, or if he really wanted to dominate the human world for what they have done, was never answered. What was answered was that each item held an interest for each of the demons brought into this partnership. They stole the items and were disputing about how to best use their latest acquisition when they were interrupted by Yusuke Urameshi. The spirit detective proved to be full of surprises, defeating Hiei by dumb luck and improvising. He might never admit it but Hiei has learned a great deal from this and many encounters in the future with the detective.
There is another arc, which is assumed that Hiei spent in Spirit World, probably jail, because the next time he is seen is a few months later. Kurama and Hiei had volunteered for “community service” to get clear the slate. Their first task was to help out Yusuke to getting a whistle from the Saint Beasts. Hiei meets Kuwabara for the first time, and it was hate at first sight. The challenge the group encountered was the gate of betrayal. The game was slanted so one would betray the others to be squished beneath the falling ceiling, and if one were to try to save them, the boulder will kill the one.
Yusuke threw everyone off by putting his life in Hiei’s hands by asking Hiei to leave them under the falling ceiling to hit the switch because he was the fastest. Hiei feigned consideration to leave them there, but only to trick their guide, a flying eyeball, into sharing if there was a trap to turning off the ceiling. Then he freed the others and was affected by Yusuke’s trust and assurance that Hiei isn’t the kind of guy who would let them die like that. Hanging with the “humans” on this case inspired Hiei’s blade to move to take out Seiryuu, when the dragon of the Saint Beasts took out his own comrade coldheartedly.
The next case reveals the existence of Yukina to Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, only Kuwabara is kept in the dark about the relation between the Ice Maiden and the Fire demon. There is speculation that Hiei viewed the mission tape ahead of time, or was informed by Spirit World the mission had to do with rescueing his sister, but he kept out of sight up until the very end of the mission. When Turukine, the human who held Yukina captive, was planning on fleeing with his “prize” to make her shed more tears to rebuild what he lost, Hiei struck, beating him inches to his life.
Some time between then, and the tournament, Hiei had acquired a new ability, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. He used the time during the tournament to hone his skills and to master the dragon. His growth and personality continues to grow, and the others learn more about him all the way up until the Three Kings Arc…
Hiei had survived the fall, and was taken in by a group of Brigadiers. The fire demon grew rather cocky under their care. Taking whatever he wanted, picking fights, and even using the necklace tear stone, the only thing he had of his mother’s, as bait. In the end he wound up loosing it the only thing precious to him. He gained a goal in life, other than fighting, and elicit the help of the Jagan Surgeon to implant a third eye into his forehead to find what was lost. It was a life or death gamble, and again Hiei revealed how durable he was. And thanks to his strength decreasing to nearly nothing, he also had the surgeon train him to fight. Hiei had to pay two fees for these services. One was to recount his whole story to the surgeon, Shigure. The other was yet to be administered by him.
Having the jagan eye proved little help on finding his beloved necklace. It was hidden where his eye wouldn’t be able to see (turns out later in the mouth of some demon chick) and thus he turned his attention to revenge. Hiei sought out to where the Korime’s lived in isolation with every intention on destroying them. What he came upon was a pathetic sight of a group and Hiei wound up taking pity on them. He ran into the one who threw him off in the first place, Ri, who informed him of both his mother’s suicide thanks to the guilt of loosing her son, and that he had a twin sister by the name of Yukina. Yukina had learned that she had a brother, and Ri believed she had left to find him. Hiei had decided, after much thought, to use his eye to find his sister instead and to watch over her. He stopped by Shigure to pay him for the sword lessons. The second price to be paid was for Hiei to never reveal to Yukina that he was her brother.
His search for his sister eventually led him to the human world where he crossed paths with one Shuuichi Minamino, the human form of a notorious fox bandit, Yoko Kurama. From then on, they built a rather odd alliance, taking out a demon together, and helping one another up until another twist in the path brought them to the new Spirit Detective. There were three treasures of interest to Hiei. Whether or not it would lead him to his sister, or if he really wanted to dominate the human world for what they have done, was never answered. What was answered was that each item held an interest for each of the demons brought into this partnership. They stole the items and were disputing about how to best use their latest acquisition when they were interrupted by Yusuke Urameshi. The spirit detective proved to be full of surprises, defeating Hiei by dumb luck and improvising. He might never admit it but Hiei has learned a great deal from this and many encounters in the future with the detective.
There is another arc, which is assumed that Hiei spent in Spirit World, probably jail, because the next time he is seen is a few months later. Kurama and Hiei had volunteered for “community service” to get clear the slate. Their first task was to help out Yusuke to getting a whistle from the Saint Beasts. Hiei meets Kuwabara for the first time, and it was hate at first sight. The challenge the group encountered was the gate of betrayal. The game was slanted so one would betray the others to be squished beneath the falling ceiling, and if one were to try to save them, the boulder will kill the one.
Yusuke threw everyone off by putting his life in Hiei’s hands by asking Hiei to leave them under the falling ceiling to hit the switch because he was the fastest. Hiei feigned consideration to leave them there, but only to trick their guide, a flying eyeball, into sharing if there was a trap to turning off the ceiling. Then he freed the others and was affected by Yusuke’s trust and assurance that Hiei isn’t the kind of guy who would let them die like that. Hanging with the “humans” on this case inspired Hiei’s blade to move to take out Seiryuu, when the dragon of the Saint Beasts took out his own comrade coldheartedly.
The next case reveals the existence of Yukina to Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, only Kuwabara is kept in the dark about the relation between the Ice Maiden and the Fire demon. There is speculation that Hiei viewed the mission tape ahead of time, or was informed by Spirit World the mission had to do with rescueing his sister, but he kept out of sight up until the very end of the mission. When Turukine, the human who held Yukina captive, was planning on fleeing with his “prize” to make her shed more tears to rebuild what he lost, Hiei struck, beating him inches to his life.
Some time between then, and the tournament, Hiei had acquired a new ability, the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. He used the time during the tournament to hone his skills and to master the dragon. His growth and personality continues to grow, and the others learn more about him all the way up until the Three Kings Arc…