The next morning…

Leah POV

I wake up in an unfamiliar bed. I sit up slowly to see Hiei sitting against the wall across the room from me, watching me. "That's really creepy, you know, to watch someone sleep," I inform him.

He shrugs. "And how many times in the past have you accused me of being a creep or just being creepy in general? It's not as though this is a new development."

I bite my lip to keep from smiling. "What happened last night?" I ask. "What stupid stuff did I do?"

"What do you mean?" he asks. Is it really that hard of a question?

I look at him. What does he mean, what do I mean? Shouldn't it be obvious? I got so drunk I don't remember anything. Which means I did something stupid. I look down at myself. Well, all my clothes are on at the very least. "I got drunk. I don't remember any of last night. I remember making up with you, but nothing after that." Weird place for my memory to end, since everything is perfectly clear up to that point.

"Leah," he answers slowly. "You didn't get drunk. We made up, then you… snuggled"—why does it sound so wrong for Hiei to use the word snuggled?—"up against me and promptly fell asleep. That was at maybe nine o'clock. You didn't have time to get drunk." Really? I fell asleep that early? Heh. And then he carried me back here, and watched me sleep. Which… it isn't really that creepy. Well, not since we established we don't want to ever leave each other. It's more… protective, as opposed to creepy.

Hiei POV

Leah looks both shocked and pleased. I shake my head. Just… "Leah, why do you fall asleep whenever you sit up against me? It seems like every time…"

She gives me a crooked half-smile. "I feel safe."

Why does that answer seem so simple and so complicated at the same time? "Leah, I know from experience you're perfectly capable of protecting yourself. There is no reason for you to feel any safer with me than without me." It makes me happy that she feels that way, but there's no reason for it. No logical reason for it at least. And I'm not exactly a safe person to be around as it is.

She shakes her head. "Not physically safer, Hiei. Emotionally. I feel at peace when I'm that close to you. I forget what it's like to have a broken heart." She stands, crosses the room and pulls me to my feet. She doesn't release my hand. "I trust you, Hiei."

Then, before I can stop them, the words are out of my mouth. "Leah, do you want to get married?"

She stares at me. And stares at me. And stares at me. Hiei, why are you so dumb? That was just stupid. There is no other word for it. You haven't even been dating her that long. But we love each other. Does time matter when you love someone this much? Finally she asks, "Are you proposing, Hiei?"

"Yes. No. Maybe." I don't know what the hell I was thinking. "Yes, but unintentionally." Why am I such an idiot? How does she do this to me, get me so confused I can't even think straight?

"Do you want to get married?"

Huh? "Leah, what do you mean?"

"I mean, can we just be what we are now, or is a wedding important to you?" she asks.

Do I want a wedding? No. Not a chance. But if Leah wanted it… "I really don't want a wedding. But if you want one…"

She smiles, and I hear her laugh to herself. What's funny? Then she says, "I'm going to have to refuse your proposal." No, she's not supposed to… why? She adds, "I'm happy now, Hiei. There is no need to change anything."

I frown. "You married Aidan." Why do I sound so jealous? And why'd I have to bring him up?

But, strangely, it doesn't seem to bother her. "Because he wanted it, Hiei. I didn't care either way. But he wanted the wedding."

"Why I cannot imagine," I can't help but remark.

"I'm right with you on that," she laughs. "So it's agreed. No marriage or, at the very least, no wedding."

"Yeah. I can only take Kurama calling me a hypocrite so many times before I snap. If I get married, I will never hear the end of it." That's not to say I'm not a hypocrite in this situation, just that I don't want to hear it.

She nods. "A secret, lifetime commitment will do nicely."

"I don't think it's really much of a secret at this point."

She laughs. Then, out of the blue, she says, "I'm hungry. Let's go get food."

I nod, and we walk to the kitchen together. Kurama's the only one up at this point. Which is perfectly fine by me. Leah makes herself a bowl of cereal, contemplates it momentarily, then pushes it at me. "I need to wash up. You can eat this. It'll be soggy by the time I get back." And she's gone.

I pick up the spoon and begin eating. I can feel Kurama's eyes analyzing me. Finally he asks, "How'd it happen? How did the great Hiei fall to the level of the rest of us lovesick fools?"

I look up and glare at him. "I pissed her off, she got stubborn, I got stubborn, and then… I don't know what the hell happened."

Kurama smiles knowingly. "At least she isn't denying her feelings, Hiei. Anna… she loved me for months before she even showed me she liked me."

"Leah and I are not Anna and you," I remind him. No, we're not. But our relationship is at least as screwed up and abnormal.

He nods. "But you can at least sympathize with me now on how hard it is not to fall for them. And how frustrating it is when there's absolutely nothing you can do about it."

I frown at him. "I suppose."

It's a long time before he asks, "Was she telling the truth, Hiei?"

"What?" What's he on about now?

"She said you haven't slept together. Is she telling the truth?"

"Is it your business?" I ask him.

"Not particularly. Just curious."

I sigh. He's… Kurama… somehow, he's my friend. "She was telling the truth. Why does it matter?"

He shakes his head and sits back in his chair, folding his arms. "I'm not sure. I'm just a bit confused, I suppose. I had this gut feeling that you'd fall for the girl, but I didn't think you'd fall so hard you'd bring her home before you'd gotten what you came for."

I hesitate then ask, "You swear you won't tell anyone?" He frowns then nods. I say, "I think… I followed her home and broke into her house. Then she attacked me."

"And you didn't kill her?" Why does he sound so impressed? Does he think I restrained myself? No.

"She got the better of me, Kurama. She got me in the side with a knife. And I passed out."

He frowns. "You're not telling me the whole story. You do not pass out from a knife wound, Hiei."

"I had coated the knife with my saliva," Leah's voice says from the door. "Fast-acting paralytic. And he is apparently allergic to cats. It's a miracle I didn't kill him."

Wonderful. She's just going to tell everyone, isn't she? I turn to look at her. How is it that she looks more beautiful now, with her hair half-mussed, than she does when she's all nice and has her outfit done up perfectly? Kurama starts laughing at me. "Okay," I say. "Let's hear it. Get it out of the way. Because I don't want to hear anything about it after today."

Kurama shakes his head then says, "Hiei, I just realized why you got her the drink last night. You're afraid of upsetting her. And not just because you love her."

"Make your point."

"I just find it immensely entertaining that she has something like that on you. And it seems apparent that, for demons as powerful as us, we are invariably weaker than our partners, if only because we can't bring ourselves to raise a hand against them."

Leah sits down next to me and takes what's left of her cereal back from me and begins eating it. What is she doing? "I used that spoon," I tell her.

She looks at me as though I'm crazy. "So?"

"Never mind." She's… she's okay with using a spoon after I've eaten with it? Somehow, that… she doesn't mind…

Leah POV

Why does he look so confused? "Hiei," I say. "Let's go home."

He nods then says to Kurama, "That's another thing, Kurama. I didn't bring Leah home. You guys keep saying 'I brought the girl home.' I didn't. This is not home. Leah's apartment is home." Without another word he turns and strolls out of the room.

Kurama stares after him. "Unbelievable," he finally says. "This… Leah, you actually got Hiei to…" He looks at me, an intense curiosity on his face. "Did you drug him into believing he's in love with you?"

"No." Although sometimes it does seem like he's drugged, as in love with me as he is. The same could be said of me, though, I suppose. "The only drug I gave him was the paralytic. That wore off quite a while ago."

Kurama nods. "Thanks, Leah."

"For what?"

Kurama smiles. "Hiei… it may seem ridiculous to say this, but Hiei is my friend. And, somehow, you did something that has made him happier than I've ever seen him. I think you've made him happier than he's ever been before in his life. I've seen him content, but never happy."

There isn't really any way to answer that, is there? I just smile, nod and follow Hiei out the door.

About two months later…

Hiei POV

Only for Leah. There is no way anyone, not even Yukina, not even under threat of death… okay, maybe under threat of killing Yukina. But there is no way I would have volunteered to do dishes for anyone other than Leah. As I begin drying the dishes I've just finished washing, Leah comes up behind me. Then she wraps her arms around my waist and rests her chin on my shoulder. "We can finish those later, Hiei," she says, her breath tickling my ear.

"Hmmm?" I ask.

"I have decided I'm done… restraining myself," Leah says. What on earth is she talking about?

I turn around, still in her arms. "Leah, what do you mean?"

She kisses my cheek. "That's what you said, isn't it? You'd wait until I couldn't restrain myself any longer?" I still have no idea what she's talking about. She begins kissing my face, gently. Then she presses her lips to mine. At first it's tenderly, then more deeply, more forcefully, especially as I encourage her by kissing her back. She presses her lips to mine harder, forcing my mouth open. Oh, I just want to—I pull out of the kiss. She looks at me, a pain in her eyes it's killing me to have caused. "What's wrong?" she asks.

"Leah, we need to be careful," I warn her.

"I'm on birth control, Hiei."

I shake my head. "No. I just don't particularly want to be paralyzed again."

She grins. "That's all?" She starts kissing along my jaw. "I can only produce so much of that drug each day. I already emptied it into jars. Then I brushed my teeth, rinsed out my mouth. The likelihood that any is left is very, very low." She leans forward and breathes in my ear, "Anything else you're worried about?"

I kiss her, just below her ear, moving slowly down her jawline and then up to her lips. "No."

"Good."

Leah POV

I pull out of the kiss and slowly lead him back to my room. He follows, almost reluctantly, as though he is entirely uncertain if I'm serious. I stop in the doorway and kiss him, running my hands up under his shirt, gently rubbing them along his hardened chest muscles. Then he doesn't object when I slowly pull his shirt off. I turn him and push him onto the bed. I lean over him and kiss the scar where I stabbed him. Then I slowly kiss up his chest and neck until I am once again at his lips.

He kisses me for a few seconds then gently, carefully, tenderly, rolls me onto my back and unbuttons my pajama shirt.

Hiei POV

She looks so beautiful, lying there on the bed. "Hiei," she whispers. "I want you. More than anything."

She wants this. I've… I had been waiting for her to decide she was ready, and I thought I'd be thrilled when the time came. But now, I feel far less lust than I ever have in the past. I want to take her for my own, but at the same time I want to give myself over to her entirely. Perhaps this is the difference between sleeping with a stranger and making love to a person you've committed yourself to, body and soul.

I place my hands on her, and she smiles quietly, looking up at me, her eyes filled with love and trust.

Later…

She rests her head on my chest as we lie quietly beneath the sheet. This was far sweeter than I would have imagined. "Leah," I say quietly. I want to tell her how much I love her, but the words catch in my throat. To simply say 'I love you' would be a lie. Those words are not strong enough. I hold her shoulders with my left arm and kiss her temple. I can only hope she knows how much I care for her. There is nothing I can say that would tell her.

"Hiei," she sighs. And… I hear the love I feel for her. Perhaps you don't need to say something like that for the other person to know. It's a while before she whispers, "And, Hiei…"

"Yeah?"

"I have come to the conclusion that your anatomy from the waist down is perfectly normal."

Well, there you have it. :) Time for answers to reviews!

canopyskyandblanketseas: I'm glad you're still liking the story, since I'm writing it for you. :) And yes, Hiei does deserve Leah.

Kusiel's Fallen: thanks. glad you're enjoying it.

four-eyed 0-0: I really don't think Hiei is all that thick. of course, I don't really remember what happened last chapter (been too long? yes.)

wolvesrain17: thanks. I think.

Allysarian: I do my best. It drives me crazy when it takes people forever to update.

animegrlsteph: thanks. :)

Insanity4Apples: thanks, glad you enjoyed it. :) is Ricky feeling any better?