A/N: To those of you who liked the previous version of Considering Possibilities, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got reading through it the other day, and realized all the many many errors there were there. So, since it's such a sweet story, I had to rewrite it and repost it. So, anyway, here it is. I hope you enjoy it!

Considering Possibilities

Hiei sat in the tree, his katana propped over his shoulder, his eyes half closed. He was thankful to finally get some respite from the constant company of the other Spirit Detectives. Being the somewhat anti-social apparition he was, the two human's constant chatter tended to grate on his nerves sometimes. Thankfully they were busy doing other things at the moment, which would have left him in the company of his red-headed friend Kurama, but Kurama had taken his mother out for dinner. And so, here the fire apparition was, alone, and getting ready to spill the blood of yet another lower class demon that had managed to find it's way into the human world. Despite his sleepy appearance, his every sense was alert and ready for action at the slightest of rustles in the bushes below him.

A demon of less than savory appearance crept out of the foliage, sniffing the air for something. A low growl emanated from the demon's throat, and it crouched close to the ground, examining the dirt underneath. "She's trixy, this one..." It hissed, stabbing the dirt out of frustration.

Hiei felt only mildly curious as to what exactly the demon was searching for, but very mildly. Not enough to cause him to exert the effort to find out. He slowly slid out of the tree, and his katana came out and had returned to its sheath by the time his feet hit the solid ground. He didn't turn around as he heard the demon make a strange gurgling noise in it's throat as it fell over. Now that it was down and dead, he turned around, approaching it. "Pathetic." He commented, stooping down to retrieve the knife from the demon's belt.

With a scream of rage, the creature lashed out, and the tip of it's knife cut through Hiei's cheek.

It didn't take but a split second for Hiei to respond in kind and slice the demon's head clean off. He watched impassively as the dismembered part rolled to a stop a few feet away. He wiped off his blade, sheathing it and bending down once again. He jerked the knife out of the creature's lifeless hand, and turned to leave when something caught his eye. He bent down once again, reaching into the pouch. When his hand came out again it held a beautiful diamond necklace that sparkled in the sunlight, sending rainbows dancing around the clearing and on the fire apparitions face; he quirked an eyebrow at it, shrugging and shoving it into his pocket. He'd tell Kurama about it later.

As he wandered aimlessly in the direction of Kurama's abode, something tugged at his senses. He tried to shrug it off, but it wouldn't leave him alone. With a low growl he looked in the direction the feeling was coming from. He couldn't see anything, but his senses had never been wrong before. He crept forward, using the foliage for cover, his katana at the ready. Perhaps it was another demon...

He made it to the edge of a small clearing, his eyes darting around. There was a fire in the middle, with a cloaked figure crouched next to it. A low, melodic voice was drifting from the figure as it rocked back and forth by the warmth, and it seemed to be clutching something close to it's chest.

Since there didn't seem to be any danger, Hiei went ahead and re-sheathed his katana. Normally he would have just left it at that, but something about the melody seemed to draw him to it, make him not want to leave. With an irritated growl at himself he walked forward, ending up on the other side of the fire.

With a small cry of surprise the figure jolted, jerking backwards, a small dagger seemingly appearing out of nowhere clutched in the right hand.

As they looked ready to bolt, Hiei leapt forward, grabbing their free arm. "I'm not here to..." He trailed off as his vision was captured by two deep pools of green-blue in the face of the young woman he was currently holding onto. Her hood had fallen off, revealing a dirt-caked face and a mess of once-blonde hair.

Her eyes and face were terrified, and kept her body as far away from him as possible. "Please..." She whispered, her voice reminding him strangely of the voice of an angel.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He reassured her gruffly, releasing her gently so she wouldn't fall.

She took a step back, her eyes never leaving him for an instant, her body still poised for flight. "Then why are you here?" She asked.

Hiei studied her for a few minutes. Her clothes were torn in several places, but hadn't actually suffered physical damage it seemed. Her hair was a knot in and of itself, there was no other way to describe it. The heavy stench of demon blood wafted from her, assaulting the demon's nose. He turned to leave without another word, but found himself pausing as his curiosity began to plague him. She was running from something, this much was obvious. Normally that wouldn't so much as cause him to bat an eyelash, but somehow there was a draw from her, a gravitational pull. Perhaps it was her eyes – they were somewhat liken to Yukina's. Suddenly it hit him – the demon must have been searching for her. He whirled back around, causing the woman to jump backwards, startled. "Is this yours?" He demanded bluntly, letting the necklace trail from his outstretched hand.

The woman's eyes lit up, and she reached for it, suddenly retracting her hand as if bitten. "Yes." She answered, casting her eyes down.

For some reason that reaction irritated the fire demon. "Then take it." He tossed it at her feet, preparing to leave.

"Wait!"

He paused as she glided back to the fire, setting the bundle down tenderly and picking a cloth up out of a small pail full of water. "Let me." She motioned towards his cheek.

Hiei found his hand involuntarily moving up to his cheek, bringing it back with some blood on his fingertips. "It'll heal."

"Please…it's the least I can do." Her eyes pleaded with him. Perhaps she just wanted to company, or the feeling of safety. Whatever it was, her voice was compelling, and he gave a quick nod of assent. She stepped for cautiously, using her free hand to tilt his face upwards and wiping the blood away with the cloth. Once finished she stepped back, bowing gratefully to him. "Thank you." She murmured. When she looked up again, he was no where to be seen.

(line break here)

"Hiei, you really need to learn to use the front door, especially at eleven o'clock at night." Kurama yawned tiredly as he propped himself sleepily up on his elbows in his bed. He'd just managed to drift off to sleep when he'd heard his window being pushed open and shut none too quietly.

"Hn." Hiei sat down, leaning back against the wall, his katana propped over one shoulder. His eyes closed, and he began to doze off, completely ignoring Kurama's presence.

"How did the mission go?" His friend inquired, scratching the back of his head.

"Fine." Came the simple, clipped response.

"Perhaps you need a larger vocabulary." Kurama remarked teasingly, resting his head back on the pillows.

"Don't expect anything – then you won't be disappointed."

A small smile crept up on the red-heads lips. Yep, that was Hiei all right.

(line break here)

A few days passed.

Hiei sometimes found that during his plentiful free moments his mind would wander back to the human woman. Was she alright? His nature told him to forget her, it wasn't his concern what happened to a foolish human. And yet, she continued to tug at his curiosity. What had she been doing out there like that? What was she so frightened of? Why had that demon been hunting for her? All these questions swirled in his mind ceaselessly, driving him nearly to distraction if he wasn't careful. It had been three days since his encounter with the woman, and still she continued to plague him worse than any disease. Today it was worse than usual; her eyes were haunting him. Seemingly every time he shut his eyes her frightened orbs would appear. "If I go check on her, will that satisfy you?" He grumbled in annoyance, heading off through the trees in the direction of her little campsite.

He crouched in the underbrush. She was again crooning to the little bundle in her arms, rocking back and forth on her heels. Her (literally) dirty blonde hair was even more of a mess, and there were maybe a few more dirt smudges on her face, but she seemed otherwise unchanged from the last time he saw her. He told himself to leave, yet he again felt himself drawn by her song. His feet moved of their own accord, bringing him out into her range of vision.

She jolted at the first sign of movement, but she relaxed slightly when she realized who it was. "It's you." She said quietly, a small smile appearing for but a moment on her face before disappearing again. "Why?" She asked, not accusingly, just curiously.

He shrugged, settling down comfortably on the ground in a cross-legged position several feet away from her, so as not to make her feel threatened. Hiei noted with some amusement that while she sat back, tucking her legs underneath her thin frame, she was still in such a position as to allow for easy flight should the occasion call for it. She really was terribly thin, leading Hiei's mind to wonder when the last time she'd had a good meal had been.

"Does it hurt?"

Hiei appeared startled. "What?"

She tapped her cheek. "Your cut."

He nodded slightly. "It wasn't deep."

The woman smiled slightly, bending over and checking the bundle. Her lips moved as if talking, but whatever she was saying, Hiei wasn't hearing. His red eyes narrowed as the bushed behind her rustled and not a moment later a demon leapt out, one clawed hand reaching for her. Hiei's body reacted on instinct, his katana flashing out and carving the demon into several pieces, which then fell onto the ground, blood staining the once-green grass. He flipped the blood off, sliding it lovingly back into the sheath. When he turned around he met the blue-green gaze of the wide-eyes woman. She was trembling slightly, clutching the bundle to her chest. "Thank you, er-" she paused, unsure of what to call him.

"Hiei."

"Thank you, Hiei-san." She bowed low, gratitude pouring out of every cell in her body.

"Mmm."

(line break here)

"It's me." He called, stepping out into the clearing. It had been two weeks since that day when he had told her his name. He still didn't know hers, but he didn't mind. When he'd asked about hers she had said that she didn't dare let him get more anymore involved with her, since it might bring trouble for him and his friends. He'd let it go at that, and ever since that day two weeks ago he'd spent every spare moment with or watching over her and her child, as he'd later learned the small bundle to be. It had been a few days now since he'd last come, due to being tied up in the demon world.

His body went rigid at what he saw; more specifically, what he didn't see. The fire was dead, there wasn't a sign of anyone in the clearing, and there were several tracks leading out of the clearing, with something red spattered next to the smaller, lighter tracks – blood. With a muttered curse his legs sped into action, following after the tracks. Soon afterwards he came upon the bloody form of the woman. He sank down onto one knee, rolling her over gently. "Hey!" He barked, shaking her ever so slightly.

She stirred, her blue-green eyes opening slowly. "Hiei..san." She murmured, smiling slightly. "I…knew you'd…come." She struggled to get the words out.

"Not soon enough. I'll get Kurama." He started to stand, but stopped as she placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm…done for…please…save An…Anyarei…" Her breath was getting shallower by the moment.

Hiei seemed slightly confused. "Anyarei?"

"My…child…please…I…trust you…" Her eyes closed, and she breathed her last.

Hiei stayed a moment, a sadness shining in his eyes. He slowly laid her back down on the ground, bowing his head. He would miss her; that was something he would take with him to the grave. Without a moments hesitation he leapt onto his feet, taking off after the kidnappers.

Once he had finally caught up in one smooth motion he leapt, landing in the path in front of them. All thirty lowlife demons came to a halt. "What do you want?" The one in the lead barked, taking a defensive stance.

Hiei's eyes traveled to the demon's arm, which was holding the bundle. "Give me the child, and I'll consider letting you leave." He snarled, his katana, loose and quivering in its sheath.

The demon chuckled, which then spread to the rest of the demons. Once they had all quieted down the leader spoke again. "Listen shrimp, I got orders to take this thing back to my master. Now get outta the way or I'll deal with you personally." He took a step forward menacingly.

Biggest mistake ever made. Within exactly two seconds they were all quite dead.

Hiei crouched down, sheathing his katana before gently picking up the bundle. He pulled away some of the layers to reveal the child's face. She was whimpering, but at the sight of Hiei she reached forward and jerked the forefinger of his right hand into her mouth. Startled, he jerked it back out. Anyarei screamed, making Hiei wince. "Be quiet!" He hissed. He suddenly found his finger was once again in Anyarei's mouth, and she was contentedly sucking it. Hiei growled, but let it stay there so long as she was quiet. For a few minutes, he stood there, just looking at her. She soon fell asleep, and he was able to remove his saliva covered finger. He didn't leave for several minutes, for, looking down at the sleeping girl in his arms, he realized he felt something in him that he hadn't really considered possible; love.