"Hands off her demon or I'll cut them off for you" Hiei snarled.

"Hiei, I can handle this." Kagome said tiredly.

The demon smirked. "What's it to you what I do with the girl?"

"She's my mate. Now move or feel my blade."

Kagome said nothing, willing to play along, but she sent some of her surprised inquiries to Hiei through their mental link.

The demon snorted. "You don't look like no mate. Strong miko like her can't be conquered by short stuff. She needs powerful demon to dominate-

The demon's words were cut off as his head was neatly removed from his body. Hiei had moved with his typical speed and was back at her side in a flash. He made to brush past her but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"What?" he asked irritatedly. "I gave the beast fair warning of his impending death. I had every right to kill him."

"That's not what I was going to say." Kagome replied calmly. "Why did you call me your mate?"

"Because you are."

"Oh? And since when might I ask?" There was a glint of bemusement in her eyes but beneath it was all seriousness."

"Since now."

Kagome walked beside him in silence for a moment. "Hiei," she said slowly, "since when in the past…" pausing, Kagome made a face and started counting on her fingers, before giving up. "Since when in the past however long I've known you did you start to feel this way?"

"We've been together 75 years Kagome"

Inwardly wincing at his double meaning, Kagome chose her words carefully. "That's not what I asked Hiei. You were a child when I met you. Since when have you seen me as anything other than a companion?"

"What does it matter? I saw what that beast was doing to you and I knew I couldn't stand it because you are mine."

Kagome stopped walking. "I am not yours, Hiei."

He turned to look at her. "Why not?"

Kagome raised her eyebrows. "I cannot be owned."

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

She nodded. "For one thing, I don't see you that way. And for another, I'm much too old for you. When we met first met, you were a toddler and I was a teenager. I practically raised you."

"What does it matter how old I was when we met? That was 75 years ago. We are now close enough in age for a standard demon union."

"That may be so, but you have to remember that I am not a demon. In human terms this would be wrong."

Hiei shook his head. "I'll never understand why an immortal like you would still hold on to such silly traditions. If I am correct, the humans say that the youngest a person may 'date' would be half their number of years lived plus seven and I easily fit that range. Besides, if we must go by human age equivalents then I am at least eighteen and you in your twenties."

Kagome sighed. It seemed that Hiei really was serous about this. "I think it would be more accurate to say that your human age is fifteen. I still think you're too young."

Hiei's eyes flashed with anger. "Do you think I am still but a child Kagome? Do you think I am still so weak as I was when you found me surrounded by the corpses of the men who betrayed me? Fight me woman and I will prove my worth."

Kagome smiled sadly. "I am the only female you have ever known. Do not be so hasty in your choice of mate."

"I will have no other. Fight so that I may prove myself."

Kagome shook her head. "No."

"No? If you're afraid you might hurt me then your concerns are unneeded. Fight me Kagome."

She shook her head once more. "No."

"Attack me woman or I will take the first move."

"Go ahead. But you must know that I will not fight back."

Hiei lunged at her and had his sword at her throat in an instant.

Neither of them moved. Hiei feinted to the side to see if she would lose her resolve. Kagome didn't even flinch. Damn her. She was using his honor against him. He would not fight an opponent who did not try to defend them self. Besides, he had no intention of killing her or hurting her.

"This is why Hiei." Kagome told him, throat kissing his blade and eyes staring into his, "Like a child you assume that fighting solves everything."

"That is not like a child Kagome, that is like a demon." He answered.

"Perhaps." She assented.

"Do you reject the idea of laying with a demon Kagome? Am I not human enough? You seemed fine with sharing your affections with your beloved Hanyou."

That was the wrong thing to say. Kagome's face betrayed no trace emotion, which was in itself a sign of a storm beginning within. Hiei broached their mental connection but her mind was closed off to him.

Closing her hands into fists, she said. "Please understand that no matter how you try to convince me, I cannot return your affections in the way that you have asked. You are a friend and companion, not a lover." She said these blunt words even as she knew it would hurt him. It would be best for the both of them if they ended this confused period quickly.

Unfortunately, Hiei would not be dissuaded so easily. "I'm older than you." He said. "You lived sixteen human years before you were buried for twenty more. Then you'd seen another five roaming alone before you met me. That would have made you forty one while I was fifty."

"But mentally you were five."

"What does that matter woman! You're blinded by the details."

"I'm blinded by the truth, Hiei. I cannot love you."

Hiei stopped short. A look of utter anguish flashed across his face. Then he nodded. "I see. I was a fool. A forbidden child can never be loved. I was a fool to think I could escape what I am."

"What? No!" Kagome's eyes widened in horror. "I meant that I can't love you that way Hiei. But I do love you: in the way that a mother loves a child or an elder sister her sibling."

"A mother's love?" Hiei scoffed bitterly. "The love of a mother who'd allow her sisters to throw her newborn son of a cliff just for being male? I'd rather live alone than experience that kind of love again." He spat, and with that he was gone in the night like the flying shadow his name implied.

This story was inspired by muddled by ErinHasse