Overprotective

Author: Reflection of a Broken Dream

Pairing: Kagome (Inuyasha) x Hiei (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Quick Note:

- There isn't a time skip to when Kagome is older yet, sorry guys! This is a much-needed middle chapter to explain a little more of Hiei's affection for a certain miko and some events in her life that he was involved with. The next chapter will have the time skip, I promise!

- I hope ya'll enjoy this!

- Thank all of ya'll who reviewed! Please keep reviewing! XD

Disclaimer:

Me no own Inyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho!

NOTE:

Thank you everyone for the reviews! I'm sorry for the long wait!

P.S. I got a new laptop for Christmas! My parents are the BEST! (So's Rent-A-Center and their Black Friday Deals! lol.) So maybe- MAYBE, if RL works with me- I can dish out a couple to a few chappies of some of my stories a month now. No promises, but maybe now that I can work on stories more now that I can get on my compy at any given time. :3

Overprotective

Chapter 2 - For Her Sake

The first time Hiei checked in on Kagome was a month after their second meeting.

He stayed in the trees, just watching her at the shrine. She would turn back every so often, murmering about feeling eyes on her. Hiei stayed hidden, but he watched her for a full day before he left.

His next encounter with her was only a few days after, a few unfortunate demons prowling in the wooded backyard of the Higurashi Shrine. They were easily slain and the bodies dealt with, but he kept a close eye on the shrine- and Kagome- for a few days more to make sure that the humans hadn't noticed and that no other demons came to avenge the fallen low-class scum.

The days passed slowly for Hiei, the man intently watching the intuitive girl-child that kept almost finding him out. At first he found it annoying...Hiei had to constantly move hiding places to keep out of sight...but, watching her continue to glance around, paranoid, brought out his more mischievious side.
He decided to make a game of it.

It was the first time he had really toyed with anyone like this, but he could say that he honestly enjoyed it. Hiei used his speed to his advantage, getting close to hide, her head whipping around in confusion as she mumbled about feeling like there was someone watching her. When she would look away, sometimes only for a split second, Hiei would dash to another hiding place nearby to stare at her with his amused crimson orbs. Her intuition was strong, he had to admit, and she knew most of his hiding places, even if she hadn't seen him hiding there. It was difficult to keep hidden from her, a challenge...and he liked it. It was his favorite game...and it was because of that, that he lingered around the shrine a lot longer than he'd meant to. Hiei began studying Kagome more closely than he'd originally intended to...and he learned many things about the girl-child that had captured his interest.

For one, he learned that the girl could be easily angered and frustrated despite her upbringing by the calm woman that was her mother. He liked the way her azure eyes burned with anger when she was mad...it was amusing to watch her let loose on other children her age that bothered her. She never minced words or tried to suck up to anyone...Kagome was always herself and if others didn't like it, they could go away or suffer her wrath when they started a fight.

Though...just as easily as she could be angered, Kagome could be unendingly compassionate. Sometimes overly so. Hiei didn't like it when he saw some of the students using her compassion and kindness against her, though she rare to never knew it. The girl was too innocent and trusting for her own good. Hopefully she would learn, in time, that not all could be trusted...that not all deserved her kindness and compassion. Even so, he couldn't help but be endeared by those very same qualities as she helped all without reguard of who and what they were. Some were demon kids in disguise. They were instinctively shunned by the humans, who were intimidated by their youki...but Kagome was always drawn to them. They never revealed themselves to her, probably out of fear of rejection, but he was pretty sure she wouldn't have rejected them. She was the same with him...it made him wonder if she could feel his clashing energy the last time they'd met. If she could, then she knew that he was a freak of nature, an abomination...and yet she had still tried to befriend him. Odd warm fuzzy feelings stirred in his chest and he had to distance himself from her for a few days...he didn't like the odd feeling, whatever it was...

Another thing he noticed about the growing young miko was that she was very very clumsy. In fact, her clumsiness probably matched her compassion. If she wasn't constantly tripping over cracks in the sidewalk, it was over her own feet and other people. Kagome constantly ran into things- doors, lockers, trees, walls- it was ridiculous sometimes... If she daydreamed less, she would have seen more of her obstacles and avoided so much pain. The girl was always lost in her thoughts, dreaming about what could be, what could have been, and about some illusive feeling she had that always left her before she could figure it out. Hiei, having been studying her mind with his Jagan eye, knew it was youki that she felt. It was the brief caress of it against her senses that left her feeling at a loss...and sad, often times. Hiei was left feeling just a little guilty after these episodes, knowing that it was his fault that she was sad...

That lead to yet another thing he noticed about the girl. She could easily be saddened...but, just as easily, she would bounce back to her cheerful, bubbly self. It was amazing to watch the transition. Most times she would be ridden with sorrow for only a few brief moments before she bucked back up again, determined to do whatever she had started doing and be cheerful about it. He never saw her sad for more than thirty minutes. Hiei found her to be an extraordinary child and this trait was another that drew him in...until that fall.

That...was when Kagome's father died.

Hikari, Kagome's mother, had been pregnant with the boy-child when it happened. The father had gotten into a bad car accident and died on impact- it was quick and painless. Kagome didn't understand at first when the human law enforcement explained things to them. The news, though, was enough to send her mother into labor about a half a month before her time. The officers took her on to the hospital and Kagome was left with her Ji-san, who tried to explain things to her, the man eventually telling her that her father wasn't coming back. He was in heaven with the kami. A pleasant lie for a child...but it didn't console her. Her mother was in the hospital and her father was just gone, wiped off the face of the planet. She fell into a dark place for the first time in her life. She fell into a place that no one around her could reach. Not even as her little brother was born. Not even when they had her see a...therapist, he thought they called them- she adamantly refused to talk and when she had, she gave answers they were expecting to hear instead of her true feelings. They had no choice but to let her go.

The girl became a fortress, blocking herself from the world while her fake smile attached itself to her face. Those smiles never reached her eyes...and Hiei began to miss her real smiles; the ones that lit up her eyes and made them glow like azure-hued sapphires in the sun. The ones that brightened her whole face and bathed her scent in joy. He missed the smiles that came from true happiness without the scent of depression weighing them down. It was about this time that Hiei realized how close he'd unintentionally become to the girl and he cursed himself for it. But...he couldn't pull himself away from her. Not while she was still suffering the way she was. He would leave...but only when she became the girl she had been a few short months ago. When nothing on the outside was getting through and her family was starting to give up on her and give her space...Hiei decided to act.

It pained him to watch Kagome sleep at night. Since her dad had died, her once-cheery dreams had become dark and tormented, making her writhe in unrest each and every night. It was during her dreams that he had decided to act, so that he wouldn't be going back on his self-imposed rule to not be seen by Kagome. After a half of a day of tedius planning, Hiei waited impatiently for the daylight hours to pass into the cool wintery hours of night so that he could act. Time passed painfully slowly, but he had his mission set in stone by the time she had been tucked into bed and was starting to drift away on the tides of restless slumber. He had to wait for the transition between wakeful sleep into unconscious sleep before he could act, the man jumping from his perch in the Goshinboku- his choice place of rest at night- and onto her window sill, the window always left slightly cracked because it simply wouldn't fully close. It was an issue he was silently grateful that they hadn't fixed, Hiei pushing the blanket shoved into the crack out of the way before he lifted the window and silently entered the room. He shut the window, but didn't bother with the blanket. Hiei kept himself reasonably warm with his youki and he used it to heat the entire room without much effort. He didn't want the girl-child to get physically ill on top of everything else...not that he cared for her wellbeing or anything. Settling on the floor next to her bed, Hiei closed his crimson orbs and pulled the headband away from his head. The Jagan eye opened and his mission began.

Probing Kagome's mind, Hiei found himself brought into her newest gruesome dream, the girl clinging to her father's unmoving corpse. She cried into his chest, begging him to move, to open his eyes, but he remained unresponsive. Hiei frowned at the display. She knew what death meant...even though she never got to see his body. The wake had been with a closed casket, his body too mangled for the masses to see. Hiei found himself not liking this...that she had been so tainted by the one death...that she grieved so much for her father... Kagome had grieved for too long. It was time to move on. With a little bit of effort, Hiei forced her dream to end. Everything around Kagome turned black, her father's body stolen from beneath her tightly-fisted hands, and she fell forwards onto unseen ground.

"What's happening...?" Kagome gasped softly, confused in her misery and barely raising herself up from her fallen position. Hiei brought up an image from one of her previous dreams, from before her father's death. A lush green meadow filled with flowers of all kinds colored the dark floor, giving it a new life. The blue skies matched the shade of Kagome's eyes when she was happy. The sun warmed the dreamscape, a few puffy white clouds languidly lingering in the sky. The sunlight reflected and glittered across the surface of a clear pond to the far right. A large tree stood proudly in the middle of the meadow, its large branches covered in small pink flowers. This used to be Kagome's favorite dreamscape, so Hiei had picked it to be the one to cheer her up. Unexepectedly, the girl whimpered and quickly crawled so that she was beneath the tree, curled up at its base and hidden within the shady shadows its boughs provided. The barely nine-year-old Kagome frowned and curled herself in the fetal position and the sky darkened, more clouds joining the ones already in the sky, all of them turning dark. Within minutes it was raining, turning the ground into squishy muddy terrain. Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled deeply, but she didn't so much as flinch. It was Hiei's turn to frown as Kagome destroyed the calm setting he'd created for her. He was barely able to make out her muttering as a mighty wind kicked up, making the branches of the tree sway. "I want my daddy..."

"Enough...," Hiei growled softly to himself as he decided on a move he hadn't planned. Of course her whole reaction had been completely unplanned and unexpected... He didn't know if he would regret it or not, but what must be done must be done. Hiei took tangible form in Kagome's dream, the man sitting Indian-style beside the oblivious girl. He was mere inches from her head. "Your father is dead. Gone. You understand this, girl, so why do you continue to torment yourself?" Kagome flinched, obviously not having expected him- or anyone, really- to be in the dreamscape with her. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Kagome used her hands to brace herself against the ground as she sat up and looked at him with blinking blue eyes. In the months that had followed her father's passing, her eyes had deepened in color- it was a physical show of her hidden sorrow. Cloudy royal blue met with burning crimson and the winds died down some.

"Do I know you?" Kagome asked softly, a frown marring her face. Her brow scrunched up as she gazed confusedly at his face.

"Yes and no," Hiei answered truthfully, causing her head to tilt to the side in confusion. A few silent moments passed.

"Are you...my subconscious mind? ...Like the therapist lady was talking about...," Kagome asked unexpectedly. Hiei took her misunderstanding and ran with it. Why not? He was tired of erasing himself from her mind...

"Yes," he answered, only getting a blink in reply. "Now answer my question."

"Hmmm...," Kagome hummed softly as she thought about her answer for a long moment. "I don't know..." She sighed and Hiei's eyes flared with unspoken anger. She had a reason, but she wasn't sharing it. He didn't want to have to get it by force... "I guess...because I don't want to forget about daddy. He was here one day...and gone the next. I didn't even get to say goodbye..." Two hot tears streaked down her face and Hiei found that he couldn't stay mad at the child. "I miss daddy..." Hiei sighed. He was startled, however, when Kagome moved so that her head rested against his folded leg.

"What...do you think you are doing?" Hiei asked, the man twitching slightly and unsure as to what to do. He had a crying child's head lying on his thigh, her face turned away from him while she curled up against his leg...

"I feel safe near to you...," She admitted softly, surprising him yet again. The storm was dying down, the winds slowed and the thunder and lightning now gone from the dreamscape. Rain continued to drizzle down from the gloomy sky, though the two stayed dry beneath the tree. "It's not surprising though, I guess...I mean...you're a part of me...and I'm a part of you." Hiei felt heat rising to cheeks as he blinked down at the girl-child in his lap.

'She is innocent,' Hiei reasoned with himself. 'She has no idea what that means...' He sat in companionable silence with her for a moment as he thought about it. 'She was referring to the fact that she thinks I'm her subconscious mind..not that we're mates...' He was really glad that no one could see his bumbling... Really, though...as he thought about it...he was finding himself very much disturbed by the fact that he didn't mind becoming one with her when she grew a little older. He wouldn't mind waiting for her to mature, to be the one to look out for her while she did. He wouldn't mind taking care of those after her because of who she was and the power that she housed in her small body. She would make for a strong mate. She would be a dangerous one, though. Her power was a danger for not only others, but for him, too...and that fact made an odd thrill run through him.

He was excited.

Disturbed was a huge understatement. He had grown much, much too close to this very human girl-child. 'This will be rectified...this cannot be...,' Hiei thought to himself, feeling a tinge of despair crawling around inside of him.

"Will I ever see daddy again?" Kagome's soft whisper almost didn't make it to his ears. Hiei hesitated. He had to be gentle in his reply so that he could get away from her faster. Oddly enough, he didn't have to try very hard...

"One day...," Hiei managed to reply, setting his hand slowly, hesitantly, on her head. She nestled into his thigh at his touch, her little hands gripping the fabric of his pants tighter as she expelled a warm breath of relief. His leg twiched at the unexpected warmth. He tried to ignore it along with the wetness he knew was from her salty tears. "If you want to properly say goodbye to him...you should visit his grave. Speak. He will listen from the heavens."

"Really?" Kagome asked, her voice full of wonder as she turned her head slightly. Hopeful blue orbs peeked at him blearily, tears running down her slightly flushed face. "Will he really hear me from way up there?"

"Yes," Hiei answered surely, feeling his pant leg cling to his leg in the spot where her face had been, the spot wet with her tears.

"How can you be so sure...?" Kagome asked softly, her eyes showing that she wanted to trust him...but she was still apprehensive. The therapist had ruined her innocence. She was no longer as trusting as she used to be... Even though this was something he had wanted for her, Hiei found that he didn't like it. She had to hurt, to be betrayed, in order for her to realize that she couldn't trust everyone like she used to. He didn't like that she had to hurt so much. He hated it, in fact. His heart, thawing because of her, ached for her.

...He didn't like that, either...

"When a person dies, their soul is sent to the heavens to be reincarnated," Hiei explained a basic lesson he knew of humans and their souls assent to Spirit World. Demon souls were different, but she didn't need to know about that. Crimson locked on to royal blue swirling orbs and he knew that she was listening intently. "It takes a long time for a soul to be reincarnated. In the time that they wait, the souls are escourted to a paradise of sorts to mingle. While they are there, they can hear the voices of their family members and friends when they speak at the graves, or at the shrines their loved ones build for them, or when said persons pray for their souls. It's a gift of sorts for being good."

"What if they aren't good?" Kagome asked with a light frown tugging at her lips. Hiei hesitated.

"Was your father a good man?" he asked evasively, thinking he was, though he wasn't sure...

"Mnn hmm," Kagome nodded, fully turning back to him. Hiei's hand moved to her cheek, though he didn't really notice.

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Hiei replied as gently as he could. She didn't need to know about the tortured souls in purgatory or the eternally damned in hell... "He will be in paradise, waiting for you to talk to him." Slowly, surely, a smile spread across her pretty face. It was the first real smile Hiei had seen from her in what seemed like a long time...

"Thank you," Kagome whispered with that smile, her eyes lightening with the weight of her sorrow. "I think I understand now... Daddy can't return, but I can still talk to him. He's in a good place...yet still around, in a way..." It was then that Hiei noticed that his hand was on her soft, warm cheek. Kagome's small hands covered his large one and kept it in place as she nuzzled his hand. He froze, again unsure as to what to do. He wouldn't admit that he liked the girl's affections... She suddenly stopped and looked up at him with wide azure eyes. He idly noticed that it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds in the sky, the light shining through the limbs of the tree and illuminating her fair face. It seemed to glow with an ethreal quality, giving her a very inhuman beauty that made his breath hitch in his throat. "I forgot to ask...do you have a name..? Or should I name you? I mean...you're just a part of my mind..." He forced himself to breathe again.

"Why don't you name me?" Hiei replied as nonchalontly as he could, the man startled by the sudden questions and still reeling from her sudden beauty.

"Okay...," Kagome smiled cheerily up at him as she started to stroke his hand. "Hmm...how about..." It was then that she blinked and Hiei felt something ghost across her mind. Before he could catch what it was, she caught his gaze again and slowly smiled. "How about Hiei?"

"How do you know that name?" Hiei asked, straining not to growl at her or ask too harshly. He didn't want to scare her or make her suspicious...

"I don't know," Kagome answered, curiously confused. Her head tilted to the side. "I just felt like that was a good name for you. If you don't like it, I could name you something else..."

"Hiei is fine," he managed to reply somewhat gruffly with a sigh through his nose. The memories he had locked away were trying to come back. That ghost of a stirring was a stray memory coming loose from his hold. He would fix that before he left her mind for the night.

"Alright, then, Hiei," Kagome beamed up at him, glad that he liked the name she had givin him. "Are you going to be staying now? Can I see you again tomorrow night...?" Her hopeful look pained him. His job was over. He needed to leave...

"No...I just came to tell you about your father so that you would stop unnecissarily grieving for him," Hiei spoke, trying to keep his voice stern. "I don't want to see you do that anymore, is that understood?"

"Aww...," Kagome pouted, the sunlight dimming in the sky again. "I understand...but!"

"But nothing," Hiei removed his hand from her small hands, flicking her nose lightly as he pulled it away. Her eyes widened and a hand covered her nose as she looked up at him in surprise. He couldn't help a slight smirk at the look she gave him. It was priceless. "You grieve like that again, uneccissarily hurting yourself, and I'll return...but next time it'll be to punish you." Her eyes widened with something akin to horror and his brow rose slightly at that. She was truly amusing...he would miss her. He allowed himself that, at least. "I'll be watching you. Don't get yourself into trouble."

"I'll try not to...," she mumbled, looking away, her eyes tearing up again.

"And stop daydreaming so much, it'll get you killed," Hiei added on, making her cheeks burn a bright pink as she peeked back over at him embarrassedly.

"Not funny," she grumbled, making his smirk widen a tad.

"Dreams are the place for imaginative creation, not reality," Hiei gently warned, wrapping his arm around the surprised girl and hoisting her up as he stood from the ground, the girl making a soft 'eep' sound as he did. It was an amusing sound... "See?" Hiei lifted his hand and when he did, the landscape around them cleared. With a little effort, he brought about a lush green forest filled with wildlife and wild flowers. He gave her a moment to gasp at the 'pretty forest' before he changed the scenery again. This time a vast ocean laid before them, the ripples and tides sparkling in blue and purple hues in the evening sunlight. The sand was white and a lighthouse was perched on a nearby cliff.

"Woooow...," Kagome gushed, her eyes glittering the azure hue that they were meant to be. Hiei couldn't help but smile to himself, the man allowing one last image to surface. This was a place that he liked in Ningenkai. The terrain was a little rocky, the area right next to a mountain. A natural hotspring laid nearby as well as a few scattered trees, wisps of smoke swirling around the hot waters and colorful birds darting about the trees and into a somewhat far-off forest. A few feet ahead, carved into the side of the mountain, was the dark mouth of a cave. He'd taken shelter in that cave more times than he could remember in the many different times he'd visited Ningenkai. "Hotspring!" He wasn't really surprised by her sudden squeal. Kagome had an odd affinity for hot baths...not that he would complain about that. He liked her scent clean.

"Yes...it's a hotspring," Hiei confirmed with a bit of humor in his voice. "Don't go diving in now..."

"Aww...," Kagome pouted, turning puppy dog eyes up at him that he'd seen her work on her father. Hiei had silently laughed at the man, but now he could see now why he'd had such trouble with the gaze... "Please?"

"...Fine...," Hiei huffed, giving in with a sigh of frustration. "Damn girls and their eyes..." The last was mumbled, but Kagome had heard him and giggled gleefully as she detached herself from him. He was surprised when her night pajamas suddenly changed into a pink one-piece swimsuit he'd seen her eying at a store. She was a natural at dreamweaving...though he shouldn't have been so surprised. With as much as she daydreamed, it should have been obvious...

"Wheee!" Kagome cried as she, literally, jumped into the hotspring. He made sure it was a good deal deeper than it really was before her small body hit the water. Hiei watched her swim about and enjoy the spring a moment, his arms crossing over his chest.

'I wish I could really take her there...,' he silently mused to himself with a sigh. 'But I can't wish for such things that could never be... I need to distance myself now that I've fixed her. I can still watch her...but no more interaction. It's better this way...' It was better for her sake...he had to keep her safe. That mattered to him more than anything...

"I'm going to leave now," Hiei spoke as he approached the hotspring. Kagome immediately stopped splashing around and swam to the edge of the spring closest to him. She looked up at him, a disheartened look in her eyes. He was happy to find that it didn't last long...she was bouncing back like she used to.

"Can I ask you something before you go?" Kagome asked, her voice soft as she nibbled on her bottom lip. It was a habit he knew well...she was anxious about something or another.

"I suppose," Hiei inclined his head, allowing it.

"Are you...are you an apparition?" Kagome surprised him. She blinked her big eyes up at him, awaiting a response as he hesitated. She mistook his hesitation for confusion. "Like a ghost, or an angel, or demon, or something like that?"

"...If I told you that I am..?" he asked in return, waiting for her to push away in fear or do something of that nature...her actual reaction surprised him, though.

"I knew it!" Kagome smiled up at him, her smile bright and her azure eyes glittering with happiness and acceptance. "That's how you know so much about heaven and reincarnation and daddy." Hiei blinked at her, the man mildly shocked by her response.

"How did you figure it out?" Hiei asked, needing to know.

"You don't feel anything like me," Kagome revealed, surpring him again. "I kept thinking about it, because it didn't feel like it was quite right after you said you were part of me...but I kept with it for a while, thinking about it until I finally figured it out. Gramps always talks about demons and apparitions of all kinds, so that's how I know about the different apparitions." She grinned up at him and Hiei shook his head lightly.

'Meddlesome old man,' Hiei inwardly scowled. 'I didn't want her to know about demons or anything like that at all... At least she doesn't seem know what I am...'

"And because you're an apparition and you told me that you're watching me, I know that you'll always be nearby," Kagome beamed again and Hiei looked away, a light warmth lighting his cheeks as he idly rubbed the back of his neck. She was sharp...for a kid... "I'll miss you, Hiei." He stiffened at her words, his eyes widening again. "But I know you'll always be around making sure I don't get into trouble or hurt or anything. I'll always be safe while you're around..." Hiei peeked back at her, the man a bit inwardly flustered. "You can stop by anytime you want, though. To visit."

"I can't," Hiei attempted to explain without telling her anything. Why was she making this so much harder for him than it needed to be..?

"Oh...okay...well...," Kagome gave a small, wavering smile that made him feel worse. "The offer still stands, though. You'll always be welcome here..." Hiei fully turned back to her, crimson and azure meeting as she hoisted herself out of the hot water, the girl standing a mere foot or two away from him. "I'll miss you." Hiei couldn't stand it anymore... He closed the space that seperated them and put his arms around the girl, pulling her taut to his body. Her face barely reached his chest. What would this action hurt? It was the last time he would be able to touch her...why not allow himself this, at the very least?

"I will miss you, too, little one," Hiei whispered against her ear as her arms wrapped around him in turn. "But, as you say, I will always be around. Do not despair. Move on with your life."

"I will," Kagome answered him tearfully, her little face turning up to his. Her azure eyes were filled with tears as she smiled a real smile for him. "Thank you, Hiei."

"Hn," Hiei hummed and nodded in return, making her smile brighter as she let out a small laugh and nuzzled into his chest. Hiei nuzzled into her sweet-smelling hair, inhaling her scent closely one last time. After a long moment, she began to release him and he mimicked her motion, as reluctant as it was. They stood a pace apart. "Farewell, child."

"Kagome," She corrected.

"Farewell, Kagome," Hiei repeated, inclining his head to her.

"Goodbye, Hiei," Kagome mimicked him this time, the man giving a nod to her before he removed himself from her mind. He'd tightened the hold on her suppressed memories when he left, the man feeling a pang of despair as he opened his crimson eyes in her dark room.

"Hn...," he hummed softly, standing as he re-wrapped his closing Jagan eye with his white headband. Kagome wasn't fitfully asleep like she had been for the few months that her father had been dead. Now she cuddled into her pillow with a peaceful look on her face and a small smile in place, only two tears dripping down from her eyes. Hiei stepped up to the girl and gently wiped her tears away before heading to the window, grabbing the blanket that kept the cold wind from coming in. "Goodbye, Kagome." Raising the window, Hiei jumped out, easily sliding it back down and replacing the blanket so she didn't get a chill. After checking the immediate area for demons, Hiei headed back to Makai for a few days to blow off some steam and calm his unsteady, aching heart...

Hiei returned several days later to find Kagome as she used to be.

She was happy, carefree, jovial. It was as though her father's death had never affected her in the first place. He hid and watched her all day to make sure that it wasn't just a very convincing act. It wasn't, of course. And he also noticed something else...whenever she looked around, looking for him, Kagome smiled. Instead of whispering to herself of eyes watching her and acting paranoid, Hiei was met with cheerfulness and her relaxed form. He almost started when she began thinking of him, how she knew it was him that was watching over her. Of course...she knew this because he hadn't taken himself from her memories that night that he'd shown himself to her. He would have carefully suppressed her memories again, but...that would have been counterproductive. It would have meant taking back their talk and the reasons she got over her father's death...and she would collapse back into the dark state of mind she'd originally had. No, that was one memory he couldn't erase...as troublesome as it was.

Hiei scowled when she caught him, just that once, the man lost in thought. Her smile was so bright, her eyes practically twinkling with joy and mirth as she completely turned to face him. He hastily hid again as his cheeks warmed and an unusual feeling flittered about his stomach. Kagome seemed unfazed as she giggled in a girlish way and spun again on her heel, marching back into the shrine. That girl confused him sometimes... Shaking it off, he continued to follow her...and she didn't find him again, as hard as she tried to.

Hiei left that night, content with her condition. Every few days he would come back to check on her, just to make sure she was okay. After a half a year passed, Hiei limited his visits to once a week...and then to once every two weeks after a year had passed. Time trickled away, weeks, months, years. Hiei's visits narrowed down to once a month, the man somewhat glad that she had all but forgotten him by this point. She didn't tense up when he came around, as she once had, but she didn't smile, either. Kagome didn't think of him anymore. While he was happy about this fact- it was something he had wanted, wasn't it?- he also couldn't deny the cool sadness that accompanied the satisfaction. It was an odd issue that often had his stomach in knots...he preferred not to think of it at all.

Hiei sighed from his perch as he came to check on the girl-child he liked so much. Five years had passed...and he couldn't help but notice just how much she had grown. Kagome was now taller than he was, her unruly black hair kept to about her mid-back in length. Azure eyes sparkled- at least they hadn't changed- at her mother as she rushed out the door, a pack on her back as she readied to head off to school. Hiei blinked at the green and white apparel they called 'uniform'. While the top didn't hug her form, it definitely showed off some of her creamy white middrift when she raised her arms. Hiei couldn't stop himself from staring. Her curves were filling out, he also idly noted, the man swallowing as his throat began to dry. The top hinted at her chest, but it was too large to guess at how large it really was. And that skirt! It was so...short! Her mile-long legs were shown to the world, her upper thighs joining them when she bent over a bit.

'She's grown up...,' Hiei reminded himself, not accustomed to the quick aging of humans. They lived much shorter lives than demons... He didn't like thinking about that. He did, however, remember that she was within the age of mating. He had come by a time or two when she was in heat...the scent of blood and the irritable mood were the dead giveaways. Then, she hadn't seemed ready for that sort of thing...but now... Hiei licked his dry lips, trying to moisten them as he watched the girl down below. Her body was ready. It probably wasn't completely done filling out, but she was definitely ready. The thought made him squirm uncomfortably, not-so-innocent thoughts of the miko flitting about his mind. Thankfully, the boy-child came out and drew his attention. Hiei sighed, having watched the boy grow from baby to adolescent. He was a good child, if not a bit mischievious... Surprisingly, he was a bit more responsible than his older sister. He always helped her with tests and homework and such...but he also teased her relentlessly. Hiei couldn't keep the grin from his face as the boy taunted his sister and took off running. Kagome gave a cry, her face heated as her eyes gleamed with the fire that burned whenever she got angry. It was another thing Hiei liked about her that hadn't changed... Yelling a quick goodbye to their mother, Kagome took off after the boy-child, her teeth grit and skirt flying as she rushed away top speed. Head tilted to the side as a certain flimsy white fabric showed from beneath the skirt, Hiei decided that he liked it when Kagome angrily ran after her little brother...

Curious of who would win the spat, Hiei silently followed through the shadows and treetops, the man easily avoiding humans. He watched until they wound up at the school, Kagome just barely missing her brother as he dashed inside to safety. 'Fiesty onna,' Hiei chuckled to himself as he watched her fume for a long moment. It didn't take long for her three friends to flank her sides and calm her down. Hiei frowned at the overly talkative nuisances. He didn't know why Kagome continued to be friends with those three...they were trouble. 'Hm...?' Hiei blinked when a boy approached the group. The girls swooned over him, all but Kagome. And, ironically, it was Kagome that he approached. Azure eyes blinked as he attempted to woo her. Hiei growled to himself. 'Damn boy...don't interfere...she doesn't like you...she's mine...' Hiei drew back, surprised by his own thoughts. 'Mine..? When did I decide that she was mine...?'

Hiei was unable to come up with an answer and only glowered when Kagome accepted the boy's request to go out somewhere after school...with her friends and his friends, of course. Still, she was accepting. Hiei felt something inside of him ache. Of course she would accept...she didn't remember Hiei. She was a normal human girl that knew little to nothing- and she certainly didn't believe in what she did know- of demons. He couldn't keep the bitter taste from his mouth as he turned away and slid back into the streets of Tokyo. 'This is a problem...I can't think of her this way. She was never mine to have.' Hiei's heart ached unbearably as he dodged into a darker, cooler allyway and slid into a sitting position. 'I wanted to rid her of her memories of demons and her power to protect her...I can't protect her if she knows about demons...myself included.' He growled despairingly to himself. 'It's better this way. She will be happy with that...boy.' Hiei couldn't help the snarl from ripping from his lips at that thought, his head hitting the brick wall behind him. 'She requires less maintenance than she did. The memories really don't need that much binding anymore; she's forgotten it on her own. I can leave her be for a while...maybe a couple of years or so. It will be enough for her to mate with the human male of her choice...she will live as a normal human woman...' It was what he'd wanted for her from the start...so...why did it hurt so much...?

"Rrrrgggg," Hiei growled loudly as he gripped his white scarf with his left hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Am I interrupting something?" a velvety voice startled Hiei out of his thoughts, his crimson eyes popping open in surprise. He hadn't even sensed him...

"Of course not," Hiei sniffed. "Stupid humans is all."

"I see," the red-head smiled somewhat amusedly down at him. "You asked something of me five years ago and I declined..." Hiei narrowed his eyes at the taller humanesque boy standing before him in a pink school uniform. "But now I'd be willing to accept." Hiei blinked in surprise before his brow furrowed and apprehension set in.

"Why now? You weren't keen on the idea before...," Hiei spoke up, his grip tightening on the scarf as his other hand warily gripped the handle of his katana.

"I...my human mother is dying...," the humanoid Youko Kurama admitted, surprising Hiei somewhat. "One of the three treasures in the room you wish to infiltrate will save her life. I want the Forlorn Hope if I help you." Hiei weighed his options carefully. He'd honestly been about to abandon the idea completely, but...if Youko would help him...raiding Reikai would be a cinch. He could get that legendary sword and Youko could have the mirror. The soul-sucking ball was left...he didn't care so much for it. After debating it a moment, Hiei's hand slid away from his katana and he nodded.

"Alright, consider the mirror yours...if you help," Hiei promised, the fox avatar looking to be relieved.

"I will do all that I can," Youko Kurama inclined his head. Hiei stood to his feet. "May I see the blueprints of the castle? We will need to plan our route in and work out all of the details..." Hiei pulled out the maps that the lizard, Shiki, had made a good few years ago and he set them on the lid of a nearby dumpster. Plans were under way in no time with thoughts to re-check the perimeters and guard change-outs. They decided to include a Kyukonki when the burly man approached them. Neither liked him, but he liked the soul-stealing orb and he would make for a nice battering ram to get them into the gate they wanted to get through.

Plans set and minds made up, there was no going back.

Hiei only gave a passing glance to Kagome the night before they set out, the man re-sealing her memories for the last time for a couple of years. She would be fine. Kagome would move on in her life, select a mate, and settle down with him. Hiei didn't want to be around when that happened... So, with a heavy heart, Hiei set off that night with no intentions of returning until a couple of years had passed...

If only he had returned a few months later...

He would have known that she'd fallen down a well on her fifteenth birthday, unknowingly re-activated her reiki for self-preservation, and fallen into a world five hundred years in the past. While she never recovered her memories of him, she really didn't have time to. Between fighting evil and school work, Kagome stayed pretty busy. At least, for a couple of years...

- Chapter 2 - End -

- Note - I didn't mean to confuse anyone. I know I said before that Hiei 'erased' Kagome's memories of him and all (in the previous chapter) but I meant 'suppressed'. He can't completely erase a host's memories without permanently damaging their minds. He wouldn't do that to Kagome. So...her memories are suppressed and they were trying to rush back to her when they were in the dreamscape, at the tree. He's going to have to seal them back every once in a while to keep Kagome from remembering them...and him.

- For Her Sake...Hiei did it all to protect Kagome. Awww! XD Sweet, ne?

- BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

- I hope you all enjoyed this! XD

- Please review!