Hey minna! Your nice reviews have brought me out of my Kit-induced depression! You should all pat yourselves on the back for a job well done!

'Oh, get over it already and start typing.'

But Kit! I have to thank them for saving me from the damp, horrible darkness!

Onna, if you don't shut up and cut the dramatics, I think you'll be having an 'accident' some time soon.

Hiei! /goes starry-eyed/

Uh... I mean... Sure! I'll shut up Hiei-kun!

I would just like to thank the reviewers first!

Fine. Then you shut up.

Thanks to:

Amaya Tenka - of course Yu-chan's protective. It's in his blood. He is part demon.

Skitzoflame - neither can I! But Kit's just not cooperating! It's frustrating, really. Even I don't know what's gonna happen next, and I'm the author!

Ryukotsuseix - thanks! But I have a question. Can you actually say your name?!

Yue-neko - good for you! And thanks for reading my pitiful excuse for a story.

Inu-fluff-luvr/S.Weez - I love Hiei/Kag stories too! Ain't they great?!

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Last Time:

'Anything funny?' Hiei wondered. When he finally realized what the detective had meant, Hiei snorted loudly. 'With a ningen? That's a good one.' He looked down at Kagome's peacefully sleeping face. 'Although, she's not bad looking. For a ningen, that is,' he quickly added.

This Time:

Without thinking, Hiei brushed one of her long bangs away from her face. When he realized what he was doing, Hiei quickly snatched his hand back from where he had started to stroke her soft, porcelain skin. Kagome frowned in her sleep at the loss of contact and slowly opened her eyes.

When they were fully opened, but slightly hazy, Kagome found herself staring into a pair of glowing, red eyes. 'Hiei.' She smiled at him sleepily, rubbing her eyes to get him in focus. "You don't have to sleep sitting up. There's plenty of room." Kagome said groggily, sliding to one side of the bed.

Seeing that he wasn't going to move on his own any time soon, she pulled the comforter back, grabbed his hand, and pulled him down onto the bed. "See? Wasn't so hard." She said sleepily. "G'night, Hiei." Kagome said before she was fast asleep again.

'She is one weird ningen.' Hiei thought as he watched her sleep peacefully. 'Might as well get some sleep too. Who knows when I'll get the chance again.' Within minutes, Hiei was asleep.

"Hiei. Hiei! HIEI!" A woman's voice called him. "Hiei, wake up already!" He finally opened his eyes when she started shaking his shoulder roughly. "Hn. What do youy want, ningen?" Hiei asked coldly, looking at the ningen onna dressed in ancient miko garb and armor suspiciously.

"Hmm... You really are as mean as everyone says you are." She said, looking him over. Hiei paid no attention to her comment and instead looked around at his surroundings. He was obviously no longer in Kagome's room. His enhanced eyesight enabled him to see that he was currently in a small forest clearing. It was still dark and the only illumination came from the full moon hanging low in the sky.

"Where are we?" Hiei asked the onna beside him. "We are bystanders in Kagome's dream, watching as she relives one of her memories." "Why are we here?" "You are here to know her better. Now that you are binded together, you need to understand each other." She said, as if it was obvious and he was understocked in the brain compartment.

"And who are you?" Hiei asked. "I am Midoriko, Kagome's incarnation. I'm here to give you a tour in of her nightmare." "If you're her incarnation, why aren't you in Reikai?" Hiei asked her suspiciously. It shouldn't be possible for a soul to be aware of things after it goes to Spirit World or is reincarnated. (Don't know if that's true)

"Why should I stay there? That dumb toddler Koenma won't notice. He can't keep track of his binky most of the time, let alone all the souls in Reikai." Midoriko said casually.

"Besides, I can't leave the jewel for long periods of time." "What jewel?" Hiei asked her curiously. What could possibly be strong enough to keep a miko's soul captured? "You don't know?! You mean to say that you're binded to Kagome and you don't know anything about her?!" Midoriko asked him loudly.

"Hn. What's the big deal? It's just for a stupid mission." She sighed at his answer. I guess I'm going to have to tell you the whole story. We have time. The fireworks won't start for a while." Midoriko said, glancing into the forest.

"Around 600 years ago, I was a powerful miko that protected all humans from youkai attacks. You see, until recently - about 300 years ago - youkai, humans, and spirits all lived together in what is now known as Ningenkai. Since I was one of the strongest mikos that stopped youkai from taking over, I was their main target. One day, hundreds of youkai ambushed me as I was traveling from one village to another."

"I held them off for days, but my strength was giving out. I managed to trap the youkai within my soul as I died, hoping to purify them. Instead of that happening though, my soul created a jewel - the Shikon no Tama, as it is called today - where the youkai and I still battle."

"I can take breaks as long as Kagome keeps the jewel near her. As my reincarnation, Kagome is a miko as well and she purifies it. However, she has other powers as well because of having the jewel inside her for so long. A single shard can increase a youkai's power tenfold."

"550 years ago, the jewel fell into Kikyo's hands for protection. It had previously been guarded by the taijiya's village, but they soon found the jewel to be too much of a burden for them. So, they sought a powerful miko to keep it safe. Kikyo used to be a good miko, but her downfall was caused by falling in love with the half-dog demon Inuyasha. He had first turned up to steal the jewel to become a full demon. As time went on, they started to care for one another."

"Kikyo wanted him to use it to become a human. She thought that a pure wish would make the jewel disappear from existence. You see, while she may have loved him, she was selfish. She wanted him to use the jewel in order to get rid of it permanently, then she could live like any normal human woman."

"Being a miko, along with being the protector of the Shikon no Tama, she was highly respected by the villagers, but she was also very lonely. As was Inuyasha, who didn't fit in with either the humans or the youkai. That was one of the things that brought them together."

"Unluckily for them, they were tricked into hating each other by Naraku, a human thief that was turned into a youkai- a hanyou, actually- by having thousands of lower-class youkai devour his body. Kikyo was fatally injured, but used the last of her strength to pin inuyasha to the Goshinboku and put him into an eternal sleep. Kikyo's body was cremated along with the jewel."

"50 years later, Kagome shows up through the well with the jewel in her body. The villagers believed that she was Kikyo's reincarnation. With time, Kagome believed it, too. When Mistress Centipede was trying to get the jewel, Inuyasha woke up and convinced Kagome to get rid of the arrow that kept him pinned to the tree."

"She did, and he got rid of the demon. However, he didn't do it to save her, he just wanted the jewel to make himself a full inu youkai. Kaede, the village miko and Kikyo's younger sister, placed a subduing necklace on him in order to control him. Now, every time Kagome says 'sit' he crashes to the ground. It's quite funny, actually."

"Anyway, for almost 3 years, Kagome has been going back and forth through the well, trying to collect all the pieces of the jewel. Inuyasha helps and protects her, along with her other friends. At first, it was just to get his hands on the jewel, but now, he cares about Kagome, just as she cares for him. The problem is, he can't forget Kikyo, and his promise to protect her." Midoriko finished sadly, her head bowed.

Hiei was speechless. He had no idea that Kagome went through all that. She was so... nice and cheerful. It didn't seem possible that anything bad had ever happened to her.

"Look over there," Midoriko ordered, pointing to a small clearing near theirs, which was surrounded by trees. In it, Hiei saw a girl, a few years older than Kagome, who looked almost exactly like her. The only differences were that her hair was straighter and slightly longer, and her eyes. Her eyes were a cold, grayish-brown, and were nothing like Kagome's warm, blue-gray ones.

"That's Kikyo. Or, at least, a copy of her." Hiei looked at Midoriko questioningly. She sighed, her throat was starting to become raw from so much talking. "Kikyo was brought back to life by a witch named Urasue. She stole Kagome's soul in order to give life to Kikyo's clay body. Kagome's soul didn't want to leave, though."

"She took back most of her soul, but a small part stayed with Kikyo. Now Kikyo steals dead women's souls in order to stay alive. Well, undead, actually. It wasn't enough, so she created a spell that takes away another small piece of Kagome's soul every full moon. The only reason Kagome isn't dead by now is because our souls are intertwined. That makes hers big enough to withstand losing bits and pieces." Midoriko explained.

"Hopefully, binding her powers to you will also join her soul to yours and help block Kikyo's spell." Hiei kept quiet, processing all the information. He had wanted to know about Kagome, but this was way more than he had intended to learn. He had been looking for birthdate, place of residence, trivial things like that. Not all of this.

Now his protective youkai instincts would make him want to take care of her. And if he didn't, and resisted, he knew that his nice, peaceful life would be turned into a living hell. He might even go insane. Fighting with yourself tended to do that to you.

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Okay! Phew!

/wipes imaginary sweat off brow/

That turned out much longer than planned! :)

But it's over now! Yay! Now it's your turn! Review!

'OMFG! Did you eat all of the freakin' sugar again?!'

'Your mom and your doctor said not to do that again!'

'You know what happened last time!'

Calm down Kit! I didn't forget 'bout you!

I left... hmm...

/peers into almost empty 5lb sugar container/

A few cups!

'A few cups!'

'A few freakin' cups! That thing was completely full!'

Like my new friend Milk-chan says- You dumbass!

'What was that for?'

No reason! I just felt like saying it! :D