Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi respectively (Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho). No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Trying this chapter out in HTML format. Bear with me.

Kagome fluttered in and out of unconsciousness; her body sore with pain and her mind throbbed with a headache. Sometimes she could hear voices, soft and guarded tones whispering about and she only managed to catch a few of what they were saying. At times she struggled, trying to wake up only to lose consciousness. Other times, she tried to wake up, her eyes tried to open and yet she wasn't able to. What was worse was when her body was paralyzed, frozen and rooted to the bed while her eyes flitted around, gathering as much information about her environment as she could.

Where was she? Why was she here? Who brought her in? Who nursed her back to life?

She knew she almost exhausted all the energy of the Shikon jewel, which meant that whatever energy lost by the jewel; her own energy was lost too. She almost died, especially since she was poisoned and there were painful wounds that were inflicted by Naraku's tentacles. Trying to fight all three aspects of the dangers she acquired almost killed her.

But somehow, someone had treated her poisoned body and wounds. During the times when her eyes fluttered opened, she found herself gazing into deep emerald eyes and then find herself closing her eyes into deep slumber, oddly comforted and relax by those emerald eyes. It reminded her of a beautiful forest. Not tainted with darkness or the attraction to the jewel as all the youkai that settled in there lived in peace.

Into the land of unconsciousness, her dreams seemingly had warped into stranger ones by the minute. All of them included Inuyasha but then they all end up with a mysterious person outlined only by a silhouette. The Shikon jewel appeared in the stranger's hands, palpitating and then disappearing in his body. Sometimes, she dreamt of Naraku crushing her beating heart, dripping with blood then to find someone else holding her heart, encased in a glass structure.

A pacifier.

A spirit sword.

A flaming youkai.

A person hooded with cloak, carrying a sickle.

A kitsune...

She didn't know what was going on. Dreams are metamorphosis of reality. Despite some aspects of it fictitious and warped, they are loosely related to reality. Kaede thought her that principle. These people are important, significant figures. They were familiar but everytime she almost identify their identities, the vision faded into nothingness.

Most of the time, she found herself in a dark room, in which the only colour was black.

Alone.

Lost.

She did not want to ask anyone for help. Not when their lives are in danger. She had to protect her family and even she knew that the shield around the temple will eventually disappear.

Kagome, eyes closed tightly and her hands gripping on the bed sheets, whimpered softly, unable to stop the tears in her eyes from flowing.

Letting go was easy enough as well as severing her ties to the world. But she still had a promise to keep.

She had promised Inuyasha she would live.

~

Kurama looked up, confusion etched on his face. While Hiei stared at him, bewildered by his friend's actions.

"She's hurting again," said Kurama in a hollow voice. Youko was frowning, puzzled by this sudden acknowledgement. 'How did I know that?' he thought.

"How?" asked Hiei, feeling restless and concerned about the problem at hand. Suddenly, a sharp pain edged its way to his heart and he too looked up at the direction where Kagome was sleeping.

Kurama paused, gathering his thoughts, "You said yesterday that you felt something whenever she reacted a different emotion. So during the time she's unconscious, you felt empty. Like you existed in a void."

Hiei nodded, remembering telling Kurama every detail of the battle three days ago as well as the unusual reactions he was evoking while watching.

"It's almost as if I know what she's feeling while she is sleeping. I know when she's hurt, when she's relax or when she's sad," Kurama continued, "but its odd, like we're connected to her or something. Which should be impossible because I would know when someone had cast a binding spell on me."

Hiei didn't bother replying, knowing how useless it would be when he knew they were going nowhere. All the answers were with Kagome and they would have to wait until she was able to talk. The past two days was compiled with impatience and worry, firing his nerves of the late and feeling extremely perplexed about Kagome. He had so many questions and knew that all of them will eventually be answered when she woke up. While Kurama attended school as usual, he watched Kagome, changing the bandages around her wound, giving her medicine (courtesy of Kurama) and waiting if she would ever come back from consciousness. He has yet to report back to Koenma but he didn't care, Koenma could wait. He had more important matters at hand.

Like Kagome, a voice whispered in his mind.

Since when did Kagome become an important matter? Another voice sneered.

Hiei frowned, trying to understand why she became important. She was just another case right?

And pigs fly.

"It's odd for sure. I wonder why though, why would she or someone who cast that spell choose us of all people," Kurama murmured, snapping Hiei out of his thoughts, "She probably knew who - what we are and even then it doesn't have any logic whatsoever."

"We'll find out one way or another," Hiei replied gruffly, "Kagome is a fast healer, so she'll be waking up soon."

"Yes," agreed Kurama, "she's a fast healer, remarkably faster than most humans."

Another pain shot him, this time through his head. Hiei gritted his teeth, growling in attempt to avoid vocalizing his pain. No. Kagome's pain. He forced himself to look at Kurama who was echoing his pain as well. It was unnerving and it irritated him so. He felt so lost, not knowing what to do with Kagome. Hiei wanted to...

Wanted to help her.

He wanted to do anything to help her feel better, to make that pain go away and he sensed that it was what Kurama wanted to do too.

They were both at lost.

Kurama glanced at his watch and sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I've got to go to school. You know what to do. If there's any sign of her waking up or something, alert me."

Hiei nodded curtly and watched as Kurama headed to his temporary room leaving him to his thoughts.

Fire.

The tips of his fingers flickered in response, aglow with flaming embers and it soothed his nerves.

He wondered just how much the unconscious Kagome knew that there were people around her who was willing to die for her. And that confused him the most, it was the truth and he would willingly die for her. Someone he has just met recently and he would die for her.

Hiei stood up, feeling confounded with his emotions and realizations. It was just...wrong. Nobody could affect him so much, can it?

As he watched Kurama returned to the living room - his bagpack nestled on his shoulder and one hand carrying a jacket, Hiei inhaled a long breath.

"I'll see you later," said Kurama serenely as he shut the door closed.

~

Hiei stood by the feet of the bed, leaning on the wall and with his arms crossed, head tilted to the figure sleeping on the bed.

He was really annoyed. There was something about this girl...

Ever since he placed himself in the room, her pain just stopped. He let himself relaxed a little, knowing that she stopped feeling pain. At least he could watch her without feeling confused or overwhelmed. He just recently changed the bandages, noticing that the large gashes that she had were mere scars. Her other heavier wounds had closed but it was tentative and he deliberately wrapped those wounds with complete caution in order to avoid from it opening again.

Kagome was heavily asleep on her side, her lips parted slightly open and her hands closed tightly around her sheets. A frown marred her pretty features and Hiei wondered what would it take to remove the frown. It just didn't seemed naturally for Kagome...

An odd thing...was that he can managed to think straight now that he resided beside Kagome. For the most part, his thoughts had wondered off to his sister and how she was doing. He promised himelf that he would never let anything happened to her and he wasn't about to back down from his own promise. Hiei made a note to check on her later when Kurama returned from school. He also noted that he had to report to Koenma sooner or later or else Koenma would start getting suspicious.

His thoughts had then deviated to Kurama and became warily engrossed on the kitsune's feelings in all this.

Aside from Kurama's conclusions of Kagome, Hiei wondered what the kitsune was thinking knowing that Kuruma was keeping some of his assumptions to himself but wasn't conclusive enough to share it with him. He wasn't peeved but rather curious. Kagome was an enigma and it was enough to prevent himself from shaking out the answers from said enigma herself.

She was pretty, Hiei admitted. She reminded him of a warrior; graced with unimaginable strength and will power. It reminded him of a story he had heard...about a priestess who was so powerful youkai of every kind had wanted to fight her.

"Mou," Kagome whispered, causing Hiei to dash beside her.

Hiei's eyes narrowed as he saw Kagome flickered her eyes opened.

~

The first thing she saw was red. A very gorgeous shade of red.

Crimson.

It almost reminded her of Inuyasha's clothes and how it kept her warm during cold nights.

The last thing she saw was a vision of a face she distinctively found familiar.

Odd, Kagome reflected.

I know you.

Author's Notes: Hiei...haha, is so obsessed with Kagome neh? And isn't he a little OOC? In this story, Hiei will have more control of his powers and a general control in the element of fire. He can not only summon his own special attacks but some new 'fire' ones as well.

One of my problems in writing is my inability to sometimes notice the difference between past and present tense. Thank you for reading and reviewing this story, but you guys are welcome to point out any mistakes, grammar or otherwise.

Oh and about that section I cut off, the Hiei/Kagome scene? I decided to write a side story! Look for it sometime soon! It's called Healing Broken Glass.