Chapter 5: "Great..."
I sighed as I held onto a branch and flapped my wings. Stretching them felt good but the whole point was to build up stamina and muscle. I had been at it for an hour and was getting really tired now.
I jumped from the branch, flaring my wings to slow my fall so I landed softly. I teleported back to the house and walked to my bed. I fell on my bed, laying on my stomach and folded my wings. I quickly fell asleep but sensed Matt (in her human form for the moment) come in and cover me up with a blanket, making sure my wings were covered.
I felt a strange feeling, one I knew I had missed when I was a child... the feeling of being safe and protected by your mother's side. I knew Kurama and Naoko grew up without a mother and probably felt the same way but at least they grew up with each other... I had no one.
I was happy now. I had my family back home. Naoko, my step-daughter Silrowen, Kuronue who was like a brother... Matt, who I called my mother, Sora who was my sister, and Vash who was like my father. And speaking of fathers...
When I woke up I heard an annoyingly familiar voice. Jigoku. "Great..." I growled and got up. I looked around for a shirt to put on and saw Matt had left one on a chair. I picked it up and saw it had holes for my wings. I somehow managed to get my wings through the holes and put the shirt on.
I walked out and saw Sora glaring at Jigoku. Jigoku had jet black hair like mine and crimson eyes, slightly duller than mine. He was built almost exactly like me and you could unfortunately tell we were related. Jigoku was my blood father. I hated him and he hated me. We had our reasons (or at least I did) but I'm not telling.
"Hiei's up!" Sora said, happily. "Whoa! Hiei, you look so cool!"
I didn't show Sora any sign that I heard her but I didn't need to. She knew me well enough to know I heard her. I looked at Jigoku and hissed quietly.
That caught his attention. He turned and looked at me, his crimson eyes widened. "When did you become part dragon?"
I growled and made my way outside. I wouldn't be in the house while he was.
I flapped my wings and took to the air. I was getting the hang of things. Flying was becoming easier but landing was still hard. I didn't care. I just needed to get away from everything for the moment.
Matt liked Jigoku and I couldn't kill him because of that... that was probably the only reason he was still alive. Other wise I would have killed him by now.
I sighed as I flew lower to the ground. My mind was else where and I wasn't even thinking as I threw my legs out in front of me and ran to keep from falling forward. I slowed my pace and came to a stop.
I was in the middle of the desert, no where really until I saw a familiar tree. Just one tree and a small pool of water in the middle of the desert. I sighed. This was where I retreated to when Knives (My crazy adopted uncle) changed me into a Plant. He built a machine to talk with other world and brought me here by mistake (or so I thought). Then as he watched Matt find me and adopt me he decided to make the 'experiment' more interesting by injecting Plant genes in me. A Plant is like a source of power and I'm not talking about things like roses or trees. I have to carry a gun around with me to keep the thing called an Angel Arm from going off randomly. Since Knives did that I swore I would kill him but this is the tree I sat in after he first injected the Plant blood into me and changed me into a Plant.
Why did I fly here? Because since that day it became one of my little alone places where I liked to think. I also went there if I wanted to be alone. Today it was both.
I sighed and leapt into the tree, my wings moving to help me balance. I crouched, my hands barely touching the branch. I stood up and looked around. The tree was the only one here. It was in the middle of no where and I had gotten over the feeling of being out in the open here. I flexed one wing and studied it. The bone and claw on the edge were black and the thin membrane was blood red and I could see thousands of tiny veins through out it.
"Weird..." I mumbled. I touched the wing carefully. It felt leathery but slightly different. I folded it again and sat down on the branch. "So... one) I have wings. Two) I have no idea why I have them. Three) I have longer claws, longer fangs and cat-like eyes. What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I getting all this all of a sudden?" I put a hand to my head and my Jagan closed by itself to protect itself from my hand. I let my cool fingers rest against it and closed my normal eyes. My cool fingers felt good against my closed Jagan.
I smiled grimly. "Heh... None of this can be good..." I remained silent for a while then stood. "I better get training." I jumped down and landed. I walked away from the tree and started flapping my wings and took to the air. I just wanted to get the hang of flying for now. The desert was huge and I could fly around without worrying someone might see me.
I was getting tired but I forced myself to keep going. I was getting close to town now. I flew lower and threw my legs out in front of me. I ran to keep from falling forward like last time except I didn't fold my wings in time and they caught the wind and I was thrown backwards onto my back.
"Damn..." I got up and dusted myself off. I took to the air and decided to try to land on the roof of the house. I could get in my room by climbing into my window and no one would know if I was home or not.
I kept up high so no one would see me and looked for our house. After a few moments of searching I found it and then after a few more moments of circling I went down to land. I slowed my descent and estimated that I was no more then five feet from the roof. I kept one leg straight and the other one bent slightly as my right foot touched the roof. I put my other foot down and went to fold my wings but the wind tugged at them and pulled them away from me.
"Oh no you don't. Not again...!" I reached back and grabbed my left wing then the wind picked up and ended up easily blowing me through my open window. I landed on my upper back, shoulders and head, my feet still outside my window.
"..." I sighed and pulled my feet in through the window. "...I really need to learn to avoid being blown around like that..." I said to myself. Sora opened my door, allowing Matt to come in. She ran over and purred.
"Hiei, what happened?"
I felt that same feeling take over as I stared at Matt's sable form. I crouched and hissed as Matt's eyes widened and she started shaking. "H-Hiei...?"
Her fear made everything all the better... or worse would be the right word now. "Come here, rat!" I said in the same growling voice that I had last time.
Matt yelped and took off running. I pounced but missed and I quickly scrambled up and after her again. She ran out of my room and down the hall, rolling down the steps. I ran down the hallway, my hands ready to catch me and push myself back up if I fell. Matt hit the bottom step, got back up and ran again.
I jumped the staircase and landed in a crouch. "Come out, come out wherever you are."
Matt ran through the living room into the kitchen. "Heeeeeeelllllppp!" I ran in after her and hissed as I came face to face with Jigoku, Matt shaking in his shirt.
"Hiei..." he said in a warning tone as if he was my superior. I growled at his tone. "Leave Matt alone."
"Hand her over and I might consider letting you live."
"No," he replied.
I growled louder now and... Jigoku hit me really hard on the head with a newspaper.
I blinked and swore, snapping out of it. What had just happened started fading from my mind. "What the hell was that for?" I asked coldly, my hand twitching, wanting to draw my sword.
"You almost ate Mattsuko," he said in an irritatingly cool voice that honestly didn't sound like mine and he walked away, leaving me standing there, watching.
The muscle under my left eye twitched slightly as I turned around, swearing mentally at Jigoku with every swear word I knew. I sighed and walked upstairs to my room again. No one came in that night...
