Gasps filled the room as Hiei entered with Leta and Salvatore was the first person to reach him. Leta squealed and jumped into Salvatore's arms as he spun her around. The back of his neck tingled as looked over to see the fox staring at him in curiousity. Hiei shot a glare at him and Kurama shook his head slightly, a smile hovering on his lips, before averting his gaze to Salvatore.

Hiei watched as Leta flitted about the room to each of the wolf-demons before he quietly left to head back to Jen's room. He could sense her frustration rising through his abilities and decided to see how the meeting was going. He stopped short at the door when he heard Kravyn's booming voice reach his ears.

"I know you care about him, Sweetling, but he's a hybrid, and-"

"I don't give a damn what he is, Dad. He is a good man, and better than any pure-blood I have ever met."

"You have no idea what he has done, daughter."

Jen growled. "What? He doesn't meet your standards because he actually had to work to survive? He wasn't pampered like a prince so he isn't worth the dirt under your shoes. That's bullshit and you know it!"

"He has killed people, Jen. Many people."

"So? We are demons, Dad. Demons fight and when they do, they get hurt and often die. Sometimes they have to die in order to continue to survive in peace. You have lead plenty of wars to know that. Pure-bloods are just as capable," Jen paused before she continued and Hiei could see her pacing through the crack in the door while Kravyn stood infront of her with his arms crossed. "Even Leta recognizes that he is a good man, Dad."

"Leta is a six-year-old girl who-"

"Exactly! She is young enough to judge someone based on who they really are, not some stupid set of rules and politics. You and the rest of the council could learn a lot from her. Just let her come back to the council, Father."

"Leta directly disobeyed me."

Jen scoffed. "How many times have I disobeyed you and you still let me come home."

"This is different, Jenista. This is dealing with the future of the kingdom and the well-being of my oldest daughter."

Jen growled again, raking a hand through her hair. "If this was truly about my well-being, you would just leave it alone, Dad. He makes me happy. He makes me feel safe, even when the League is after us all-"

Jen was cut off by her father. "The WHAT?"

Jen's eyes widened and Hiei couldn't help but mirror the same look. "You didn't know? The League has been ordered to extirminate the wolf-demons and their allies. The Venatore and the Pontifex Mortis are here to aid against them. I thought you saw everythin-"

"I need to leave. Stay safe and don't leave your hybrid's side. I can see you remaining safe if you do, but we will discuss this whole mating business later."

Jen growled as her father departed and she looked up at the ceiling. "There's nothing to discuss!"

Hiei nudged the door open and leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed. "I see that could have gone better."

Jen sighed as she looked back at him before moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "How long were you standing there?"

He scoffed as he raised an eyebrow. "Long enough to know your father loathes who I am and what I stand for."

Jen growled. "He doesn't know anything about you," she mumbled.

"Most don't."

Jen sighed slowly before shaking her head. "I just wish he would see that you are a good man."

A stabbing pain shot through Hiei's chest as he noted the sadness in her voice. "Nothing about me is classified as good, onna."

Jen glared at him and it caused him to widen his eyes slightly in surprise at the anger directed at him. "That's a lie, and you know it," She sighed as she looked down at her feet dangling just above the floor. "Besides, he thinks it is because of stupid blood lines. If you think that way, Carlotta is a saint who could do no wrong."

"Hn. She was still more suitable for the throne."

Jen arched a brow. "Right, because everyone wants a leader who will betray them. At least you wouldn't do something like that."

"How can you be so sure?"

Jen laughed quietly as she got up and crossed the room to stand in front of him. She stood so close that it made him want to take a step back but he remained where he was, unmoving. "Because you would have told Mukuro everything you knew and you certainly would have told her I was coming if you were into the whole betrayal thing."

Hiei's eyes widened as his mouth hung open slightly and Jen smirked, raising her hand to his chin to close his mouth. He shook himself out of his daze and focused on her. "How did you know?"

Jen shrugged a little. "Mukuro told me."

Hiei searched for something to say but drew a blank as she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, by the way," she said quietly. "I owe you."

"Hn."

He had at least a hundred come-backs that should make her question him, but he was starting to have a feeling none of them would work. Part of him didn't want them to work, and that's what confused him. He had felt a foreign warmth in his chest as he listened to her defend him against her father. In truth, no one had really ever come to his defense; Not that they needed to. He was more than capable of defending himself, but something felt nice about the fact that Jen had stood up for him anyway.

He sighed inwardly as he looked down into the she-wolf's eyes. Hiei reached his hand up slowly to brush his thumb against her scar. She blushed slightly and he raised an eyebrow, his curiousity peaking beyond the point of containment. "How did you get that?"

Jen sighed as she looked down. "By being young and stupid. I wanted to give myself a constant reminder of the beatings my mother and the society put me through so that I would never give in. It was also in rebellion against my mother because she always talked about how flawless I was."

Hiei frowned slightly. "That definitely falls under the catagory of young and stupid."

Jen laughed and little and scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah. I've had a few of those moments. Usually nearly got me killed and my brother had to come save my ass in the knick of time."

Hiei shook his head a little with a small smirk. "Uhm, Hiei?" He looked up at her with an eyebrow raised. "Could- Uhm... Could you train me? Aerisia is out in the open now. We don't have a protective barrier to keep everything easy to kill and it is unnerving how easily Mukuro's men took me down."

"Hn. Learn to control your energy, onna, and then we will talk."

Jen was about to say more when Salvatore came down the hallway with Leta on his shoulders. "Hey, if you two love birds don't mind, we have a meeting to discuss what our plans are against the League. It wouldn't be right for the Queen to not be present."

Jen nodded. "We will be right out."

Salvatore nodded and spun back around, causing Leta to squeal. Hiei turned his attention back to Jen to find a worried look on her face. "We will keep them safe, onna," he said quietly, understanding that she was worried about her people.

Jen looked up at him and searched his eyes, and he couldn't help but want to comfort her. She leaned forward against him, resting her forehead against his shoulder as she blew out a long sigh. He wrapped his arms around her silently and let her warmth seep into him. Despite every warning bell going off in his head, he felt like he could get used to this feeling. It was a feeling of warmth; Belonging.

Yet as he held her against him, another bad feeling crept up into his chest. This time, it shook him to his core because he could feel it had to do directly with Yukina and Jen. Hiei cursed silently but shielded himself as Jen pulled back to look at him with a soft smile. She leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Thank you, Hiei," she mumbled against his lips.

"Hn."

She pulled back and Hiei moved aside so she could exit through the doorway and head out to the sitting room. He blew out a sigh as he followed her, another stab of pain rippling through his nether region. Things were going to get interesting..

A/N~ SO I have to apologize because this chapter is so short, BUT it was either that or make chapter 14 like twelve-thousand words. I also wanted to release a little something since it has been over a week since the last chapter. As it is, Chapter 15 is going to be a huge chapter. There is going to be a lot of explaining. Like, A LOT of explaining. It will be kind of slow, but it is an important chapter in understanding what is happening in the future chapters, and I'll add a few moments to make it worth it (*cough* maybe another Leta lecture for Hiei *cough*). Chapter 16 will span over a few weeks/months and 17 is when things will go terribly wrong. By chapter 20, you will be wondering what the Hell is wrong with me. I've actually got a pretty solid outline all the way out to the end of this story and well into the Hiei x Jen Sequel. I'm still playing with a plot line for Yusuke and Blythe's story so I'm not going to really mess with it until I get a general idea for that. I don't want to start it and then have no idea where to go with it and have inconsistencies and no direction...Just eww. I've already learned from that mistake.

Chapter 15 should be out sometime this weekend, hoping for later today, but no promises. I've already got quite a bit typed out because I was originally going to just leave chapter 14 as ridiculously long, so it wont be much longer before I release chapter 15. :)

Review, favorite, follow, stalk, etc..

Much love ~Jessa