CHAPTER 9 TELLING THEIR STORIES

Raven met Robin in the hall as she headed back to her room. As he walked by her she noticed he had a face that looked half scared. What's wrong with him? she wondered as she walked past him and to her bedroom.

When she stepped into her room she stopped dead in her tracks and stared. There, sitting on her window sill with his back to the door, was Hiei!

What the?

The demon must have heard her come in because he turned his head and stared at her, saying nothing. She stared back. Another challenge.

Why is he looking at me like that? she wondered staring into his blood red eyes. Why is he in my room anyway?

She decided to find out. "What are you doing in my room?" she asked.

Hiei hesitated a second then said. "You want the truth? I came in here to get away from your friends."

Something in the way he had spoken made her think there was more to it than that. Somehow she was able to see an emotional aura around him. He's lying.

"You're upset beyond me and my friends," she said. "I can sense it."

He continuted to stare at her without comment.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, feeling she should help him deal with his problem.

The demon chuckled evilly then his face grew mocking at the very suggestion. "Do you really think I would talk about it with you, wench?" he demanded. "Once you heard it you'd wish you hadn't. It would make you sick!"

She said nothing. She sensed he had more to say. "And you wouldn't understand," he said closing his eyes at horrible memories. "You don't know what it's like to be looked down upon and be called a "Devil's Child"." (My nickname I got the idea from a video trailor someone used from the Omen with Hiei in it)

Raven walked toward him at that as she felt a need to correct him on somthing. "Yes," she said standing beside him with her eyes half open. "I do..."

Hiei gave her a look of disbelief. "Really?"

Raven felt she should tell him about herself. If she did maybe he would open up to her. She walked over to her bed and sat down. Hiei watched her expectantly, waiting to hear why she'd said what she'd said.

When she was seated on a big pillow she faced him and began her story. "When I was born people said I was destined to do horrible things and hurt people," she began. "I was destined to bring my father, a demon named Trigon, to Earth where he would take over the planet and destroy it. I tried not to let it happen but there was no way to prevent it..."

"A man named Slade began working for my father and reminded me of the something I wanted to forget about. Sometime later I, the portal, broufght my father into the world and caused mass chaos but there was still hope. Robin, with the help of Slade, who had been betrayed by my father, went looking for what was left of me."

She changed position slightly and went on. "After he found me we returned to the others and faced my father one last time. My friends couldn't do much and I wound up fighting him on my own. In the end I was able to defeat my father and return Earth to normal."

That story reminded Hiei a little of his own and the experience he'd had with the demons from the netherworld. So she's had a similar past in some ways, he thought, leaning forward slightly.

Raven looked at his face then and read it wrong. "From your expression you probably don't care about anything I said but what I'm trying to say is that whatever happened to you in your past probably wasn't as bad as you think," she said, meeting his eyes from a moment.

It was Hiei's turn to talk now. He'd heard her story and now it was time to hear his. He'd never told anyone the whole truth but he felt he could trust her to keep it quiet.

"You don't know that," he said to correct her assumptions. "You cannot judge me. When I was born they didn't just say things about me. I was thrown away like a piece of trash."

Thrown away? Raven was shocked at this. Who would be heartless enough to do such a thing?

Hiei continued. "I was born to an ice maiden named Hina. Only females are allowed to be born to ice demons so I was looked down upon. The older women said I would destroy them and called me "The Forbidden Cild". To keep that from happening they threw me away."

"How did they do that?" Raven asked. "Did your mother allow them to do that?"

"They took me away from my mother," he replied. "I was only an infant at the time. They took me to the edge of their flying world and dropped me off of it."

"How were you able to survive being thrown off a floating island?" she wanted to know.

Hiei could not answer that question directly. "That part's complicated," he told her. "Needless to say; I didn't grow up with wild animals."

I never said you did, she thought. "So who did bring you up?"

"Some demon thief," he answered vaguely. "I was raised to be a thief and also enjoyed killing people."

"Why? Why would you enjoy doing something like that?"

"It wasn't like their lives were worth anything anyway," he informed her, trying to justify himself. "They were all thieves too."

Raven suddenly had a feeling Hiei's story was going to be much longer than her own. Since she knew it would probably take a few hours to tell she used her powers to bring in some tea and a snack from the kitchen/living room area to share with him if he wanted any. She poured herself some tea then offered him some. He decided to accept her offer before he continued with his story. (A/N she didn't want to leave the room because she thinks if she does he might not tell her the rest and will leave)

"Robin?" Starfire said when the Titan's leader returned to the livingroom.

"Yeah. Star?" he asked, knowing exactly what she wanted.

"Have you found friend Hiei yet and told him to apologize to me for being one of rudeness?" the red head asked.

"No, Star," he sasid, keeping his distance, let she throw something at him. "I couldn't find him."

"Well where is he?" she demanded, her eyes glowing alien green.

Robin cower before her. "I don't know," he said in a little voice.

"He's in Raven's room," Beastboy said, coming into the livingroom just then.

Robin and Starfire stared at him.

"Raven's room?" Robin asked, feeling confused. "But Raven doesn't allow anyone in there. What are they doing?"

Beastboy crossed the room, sat on the sofa, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV before he answered. "Talking."

Robin and Starfire looked at each other again. "Talking? About what?"

Beastboy could only shrug. He had no idea and didn't really care. He started flipping through the channels.

By the time Hiei had finished telling his story and Raven had drank all the tea it was late. The demon had even gotten some food down himself as he'd spoken and was feeling a little less nervous from low blood sugar and more like himself again. Maybe he'd just needed sugar or maybe it was because he'd told his story freely to someone who was a good listener and only asked questions when he left her an opening. Either way it felt good and he found he enjoyed talking to her, since she seemed to have a similar background and understood what he was talking about better than most people.

Hiei also discovered he liked this girl. He didn't want to admit it to anyone but his feelings and thoughts toward her no longer viewed her as a "wench". Friend came to mind but that left him confused. What kind of friend? Normal or more than...?

He couldn't stand it anymore. The demon suddenly stood up. "I have to go," he announced.

Raven stared at him in confusion. Where could he go? "Go where?" she asked. "You don't know where anything is?"

"I'm not going far," he informed her. "Just outside for some air."

"Okay," she said.

He seemed to rush out of the room after that. Raven watched him go then turned her attention to the window. She's been having a nice time talking to him. Why did he have to leave now?

A/N

If I got any information on either of their stories wrong please do not correct me. Raven's past doesn't go into as much detail as Hiei's so it was harder for me to write about it. If I had let Hiei tell his entire story this chapter would have been long and boring. I hope you understand. If they are OOC sorry about that too. Beastboy would probably really listen in on their conversation but I don't want him finding out about the Jagan Eye and Hiei's other abilities. And please don't say "Hiei and Raven would NEVER do somwthing like that" to me. It's my story and so I can do what I want so you don't have to be one of rudeness.