Hesitate.

When she was still with Yusuke and someone would ask, to him, if she was his girlfriend, he would always hesitate before saying yes. Now that she is with Hiei, there is not a single person who even has to ask whether or not that they're together. They just know.

With Yusuke, Keiko basically had to threaten him to take her out. Sometimes, she'd have him wear something that didn't make him look like a thug. It was during those times that people in stores would say that they would make a rather cute couple, these people would then ask if the two of them were dating. The question was always directed to Yusuke, and, everytime, there would be a pause, a hesitation, before affirming the question. It was the same if they were asked while out on the streets, or even in a park.

With Hiei, there were times that Keiko had to beg to get him to go outside into the public, and if they did he would outright refuse to be in the 'garb of filthy humans.' But, there were also times he surprised her by being already in normal human clothes saying they could go anywhere she wanted.

Today was one of those times, although she had him ditch the leather jacket, leaving his dragon tattoo visible to the world. Over the time that she and Hiei had been together she had become increasingly nervous. Yes, she loved Hiei, more than anything. No, she didn't want to leave him. No, she wasn't nervous about him. She was nervous that not one single person had ever commented on their relationship. Keiko always felt a bit of pride in her's and Yusuke's relationship whenever people would say they looked cute together. She and Hiei didn't do many things different, other than the threatening to keep Yusuke with her, there really wasn't anything that she could think of.

It wasn't until they went into a store Keiko had never noticed before did she get the answer she was looking for. The shop was small and quiet, not much to it. Mostly glistening statuettes and shining jewellery. The two walked into the shop, hand in hand, and the shopkeeper, an elderly woman, greeted them with a smile. Keiko smiled in return before she felt Hiei tug her over to a pair of statuettes, a pair of dragons, one red, the other blue, that when together wrapped around eachother. The red one was on volcanic looking ground, whereas the blue one was diving up from a body of water. There were several other dragon themed statuettes that had Hiei enthralled. He had no idea that humans could create such things that looked so much like the actual dragons.

Keiko smiled at Hiei before lightly pulling her hand out of his, causing him to look at her in confusion. She simply said that she was going to look at the necklaces. He nodded and let go, but she could see the slight look of unhappiness that crossed features for a second. She smiled again, quickly pecked his cheek and weaved her way through tables to the necklace stands.

She stood looking at all the glittering jewels and metals, so far nothing had caught her eye. She picked up several necklaces and bracelets to look closer and ran her fingers along the smooth stones.

"Anything in particular you're looking for, deary?" Keiko nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the old lady's voice right beside her. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." The woman said with a slight chuckle.

"It's fine, and no, I'm not really looking for anything." A smile appeared on the woman's wrinkled face, pushing her cheeks upwards causing her eyes to look like cresent moons.

"You seem like you might be." Keiko was about to deny the lady again but she began speaking before Keiko could, "Perhaps a small black dragon necklace to match your boyfriend's tattoo." The woman seemed to pull the necklace from nowhere, but Keiko's attention was completely taken by it. On a short, thin silver chain was truly a dragon that matched Hiei's black dragon, it almost looked like it would come to life at any moment if it weren't for the fact that it was flat and the real one was on her boyfriend's arm at his command. It took a few extra moments for Keiko to process the woman's exact words.

"How did you-" Keiko began to ask before she realized the woman saw them holding hands, and if that wasn't enough, she also parobably saw Keiko kiss Hiei's cheek.

The woman merely smiled at the unfinished question and answered Keiko anyways, "It's easy to see a couple that is truly in love. It's the unseen smiles and the looks in their eyes. It doesn't matter how physical a couple is. It's the way you smiled at him when he was looking at the dragons, it's the look of disappointment that crossed his face when you pulled away from, and it's the way you two unconciously search eachother out every few minutes."

Keiko's eyes widened, both in surprise and in sudden knowledge. Surprise because she hadn't realized she had even looked towards Hiei since she came to the necklaces, or him at her. Sudden knowledge because she now had the answer to her unasked questions. It wasn't that people had to question her relationship with Hiei, it's that they already knew that Hiei and herself were in love.

Keiko left the shop with a new necklace to match her boyfriend's tattoo, and a new pride in their relationship.

Hello, muses, this one here I started a long while ago, but took me forever to finish. I hope you all liked it.