Chapter 9
Changing
The Minamino residence was silent in the dead of night. All but one of the residences was asleep. Hiei, who had practically been adopted by the loving Shiori and lived in the guest room, sat bolt upright on his bed. He had taken off his cloak and even his boots, leaving only his blue shirt, pants, and the always-present ward on his right arm. The blackened egg rested against his pillow, across from him, as he probed the contents with his Jagan eye. The shell had been somewhat difficult to penetrate, and now he sifted through the contents with his mind. He found no living thing as of yet, only possessing the egg for a total of four days now, except for a malleable mass of energy; whether or not that was a good thing, he wasn't sure.
"Hiei?" a sleepy voice yawned, he jumped up to stand on the bed in a fighting stance. His heart leapt into his throat when he saw a bleary-eyed Shiori standing in his doorway. "What are you doing up so late?" she mumbled sleepily.
Hiei plopped gracelessly on his bed, pulling his bangs over his exposed Jagan; as far as she was concerned, she had hallucinated the previous day. "Nothing, …Minamino-san. Just thinking."
"What is keeping you up? You're usually asleep when I check on you and Suichi."
'I sleep through a ningen walking around me! What kind of warrior have I become!' he thought to himself. "I'm…" 'Say it, you sissy!' "Worried."
"What about, dear?" Of course telling another person his troubles just to have some one comfort his worries was not something he would normally do, but Shiori was always kind to him, and he didn't think she deserved an insult and slamming the door in her face, not to mention the ball of energy that reflected his actions sitting close at hand, so he gave in.
"I'm being judged. And I don't know if I can do what's right, and in my best interest. I don't even know if I'm doing very well now. I fear failing this test, because the punishment is …unspeakable." He said, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap.
Shiori sat on the bed next to him, "You just have to follow your heart, Hiei. It knows what's right, and what's good for you."
'I don't have a heart, onna.' "I don't know how." He pouted stubbornly, crossing his arms.
"When you need it, you just have to listen."
"I'm… not sure I understand." He said, scratching the side of his head with one finger.
"It's not something that you really can understand; like a super-natural phenomenon, your heart is one of the things in the universe you can't explain with words. Like how I knew my son was special; just something…more that didn't make sense. I know in my heart that his differences are good and I can trust him, even when he disappears for hours and sometimes days on end. You should try and get some sleep, Hiei-kun, tomorrow is a school day." Shiori ruffled his hair and exited.
Hiei flopped backwards, resting his head next to the egg, "I hate you," he growled to the oblong orb, "I had enough trouble in my life without you. You know damn well I can't do this, so why don't you just hatch and eat me?" Unable to speak back to him, the black shell began to glow; tiny pinpoints of light appeared and formed a pattern swirling upward from the bottom of the egg. The light faded, and a tattoo of flames encircled the egg, mimicking the one who was burdened by it. Hiei sighed hopelessly and drifted into uneasy sleep.
