Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor YuYu Hakusho and make no money from these writings.

Sandman

Chapter Eight

It was almost another week before Hiei's body had purged all of the poison. During that week things had gotten...strange for Hiei.

Kagome brought him his meals and they would eat together. They would talk, though their conversations were largely one-sided. She would tell him all about her training and the progress that she was making, and he would add the occasional comment when he felt it was needed. She told him old stories of her adventures and the crazy excuses that her grandfather would make for her in the present.

Typically, Hiei hated idle chatter, but he found that he didn't mind so much with Kagome. No matter what she did, he found that he was more tolerant where she was concerned. Her little invasions of his personal space, the drumming of her fingers when her hands were still for too long, the stories that she repeated because she forgot that she'd already told them to him; he never truly minded. That's not to say that he didn't become incredibly uncomfortable at times, but he never uttered a harsh word about it to her.

He was also noticing all of the little changes in her. She was toning up. On the occasions that she wore tank tops around the house, he could see the small lines that defined her lean muscles. And he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit to noticing her filling out in other areas. Again, he found that she often made him uncomfortable.

But there were other, less becoming, changes. The circles under her eyes were growing darker, and her moods were best described as volatile. She was gradually growing paranoid of the other people in the house; everyone except for him. It was causing her to lash out at the others. She said that the sleep that she got with the flower was enough and that she wanted him to focus on his own recovery, but he knew that she was regressing to the state that they had found her in. He wouldn't stand for that.

Once he was able to stand without the aid of his sword, Hiei's first destination was the courtyard. As he passed through the kitchen, he saw Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Souta eating lunch. "Where's Kagome?" He questioned the small group.

"She's still outside," Yusuke supplied.

"She said she would be in a few minutes ago, but she hasn't moved from in front of the God Tree," Souta elaborated.

Hiei frowned and left the house. Sure enough, Kagome was seated on the pavement in front of the large tree simply staring at the scar in the bark. When he approached, she spoke quietly, "He's not really there, is he?"

Despite already having a good idea of who the "he" was, Hiei didn't have to ask who she meant because it didn't matter. "There's no one," he told her.

"But I can see him so clearly," Kagome said as she stood. "He's right there, just sleeping."

"He's not," Hiei told her again.

Kagome stepped over the rope that surrounded the base of the tree a pressed her hand against the rough trunk. "It's so weird," she laughed sadly. "I know that what I'm feeling is bark, but to me it looks like I'm touching the cloth of his sleeve."

After a few seconds of watching Kagome lovingly stroke a tree, Hiei decided that enough was enough and grabbed her wrist. "Come," he ordered as he tugged her away from the tree.

"Where are we going?" She questioned but readily followed him.

"To sleep," he answered.

"No," Kagome firmly stated as she leaned her weight back and pulled against Hiei's grip on her.

Hiei glanced back at Kagome before turning to face her fully. "Why?"

"I just...can't, okay?" Kagome told him as she jerked her wrist out of his grasp. "I have things that I need to do."

Trying a different tactic, Hiei questioned, "What about food? The others are eating lunch. You should eat as well."

"I don't know," Kagome hedged. "I should really practice my archery some more."

When Kagome's stomach growled, Hiei leveled her with a serious look. "You will eat," he told her before he left her to return to the house.

"Did you find her?" Souta asked as Hiei entered the kitchen again.

"Hn," Hiei answered annoyed.

Hiei looked at what had been made for lunch and raised an eyebrow at the large pot of ramen. When he turned to face the three males sitting at the table, Yusuke gave him a challenging look. "What?" The detective asked. "If it's not up to your high standards, make your own lunch."

Rolling his eyes, Hiei grabbed two bowls and filled each with soup and noodles before snatching up two sets of chopsticks and going back outside. He didn't see Kagome when he first looked around for her, but he could sense her on the property. He followed her energy and eventually came to stand in the doorway of an old well house. Kagome was sitting on the top step staring down at a run-down well in the darkness.

Hiei stepped forward and sat beside her on the top step before setting down her bowl. "Here," he said as he handed her a set of chopsticks. When she took them wordlessly, he questioned, "I thought that you needed to practice your archery?"

"I was going to," Kagome answered. "But I thought I saw someone come in here."

"Him again?" Hiei asked as he took the first bite of his noodles.

"Yeah," Kagome said softly as she merely used her utensils to stir and play with her food.

It was quiet for a moment before Hiei asked seriously, "You know that he's a hallucination?" Kagome nodded quietly. "And you know why you're hallucinating?"

"Of course I do. I'm not stupid," Kagome snapped back at him. She looked at him with anger for only a moment before she snapped out of it and set her bowl aside. "I'm sorry," she apologized as she rubbed her face with both hands. "It's the insomnia. It makes me moody."

"I'm aware," Hiei told her. "Is he always the one you see?"

"Lately, yeah," Kagome said as she looked up to stare at the well again. "He's in there, you know." When she saw Hiei give her a look, she amended, "Not the imaginary one. The real one. Inuyasha's in there, just on the other side." She was silent for several long moments before she quietly confessed, "Sometimes I think he's haunting me."

"Why?" Hiei inquired. Kagome often like to tell him stories of her journeys, but she rarely spoke of her friends individually.

"I feel like I'm betraying him somehow," Kagome told him. "Even with all of this time and distance between us, I still feel guilty."

Genuinely curious, Hiei asked, "Guilty about what?"

"I promised him that I would always be by his side," Kagome said. "I used to love him. He was my first love, and I thought that we'd be together forever. But then I had to leave, and I couldn't get back." Kagome became lost in her memories for a few minutes, but Hiei waited patiently for her to continue. "When I was forced back here, I thought that as long as I still loved him, I would be keeping my promise in some weird way."

"And now?" Hiei questioned.

Kagome shrugged. "I still care about him, but it feels different. When I think about him, I don't get that fluttery feeling in my heart. He doesn't tie my stomach in knots anymore."

"Tying entrails in knots is difficult," Hiei commented. "They're slippery."

Kagome turned to look at him shocked for a moment before she asked, "Have you tried?"

"Intestines," Hiei supplied. "Not stomachs." They stared at each other for a moment before Hiei smirked a little and Kagome burst into laughter.

"I have no idea if you're serious, and I don't want to know," she told him around her giggles. "But thanks for making me laugh."

Hiei didn't comment on it one way or the other, but instead chose to ask, "How can you be certain that you no longer love him? Perhaps your promise isn't broken."

"It's just something that I feel," Kagome tried to explain. "If I saw him, the real him, today, I would be happy, but my first thought wouldn't be about running into his arms." Kagome picked her bowl up again before she asked, "Have you ever been in love, Hiei?"

"No," he answered immediately.

"Really?" Kagome pressed. "Well, what kind of person do you think you'd fall for?"

"It doesn't matter," Hiei told her. "I'm a fighter, not a mate."

"I've known plenty of demons who were good fighters and still wanted love and families," Kagome argued. "Though I guess I did know one who would agree with you. He traveled across Japan searching for power. I think he called it "supreme conquest" or something like that."

"It's the path to being remembered," Hiei said. "He, I can relate to."

"But even he had a family...sort of," Kagome announced. "I'm not sure if his servant counted because Sesshoumaru didn't seem to treat him very well, but there was a little girl. She was human."

"Sesshoumaru?" Hiei questioned. He knew that name. There were tales of a Sesshoumaru, the son of a mighty demon general, who forged a legacy equal to that of his father's. He was said to have battled for the jewel alongside Kagome's group.

Kagome hummed and nodded, unaware of Hiei's thoughts. "Rin was the girl's name. She was attacked by wolves, and Sesshoumaru found her and brought her back to life."

That caught Hiei's attention. "How?" He inquired seriously.

"It was this sword that he had," Kagome shrugged. "His father had it made, and it was passed down to him when his father died. It allowed him to revive the dead."

Hiei stored the information away for later. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked her.

"I'm not sure," Kagome answered as she sipped some of the soup from her bowl. "I guess it's just an attempt to show you that no matter what kind of life you live, it's possible to love and care for others." Kagome hesitated briefly before asking, "Do you think you'll ever want to find someone to love?"

Hiei's first reaction was to tell her no, but he rethought the question and decided to answer honestly, "It's doubtful, but possible."

Kagome simply nodded at hearing his answer and focused back on her lunch. The two continued to eat in a companionable silence until Hiei broke the quiet and asked, "Why don't you want to sleep?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kagome mumbled. "I'm just busy with training."

"You're also having hallucinations and mood swings," Hiei told her. "Don't lie. Why don't you want to sleep?"

Kagome tapped one of her chopsticks against the edge of her bowl before finally mumbling something that Hiei couldn't quite hear.

"What?" He asked.

"Because," Kagome spoke again but only a little louder. "The last time that you helped me sleep, we were attacked. And…"

"And?" Hiei prompted.

"And you got hurt," she finished.

Hiei snorted lightly. "I've been hurt before, and I'll be injured again. It's not the end of the world," he told her.

"But you almost died!" Kagome shouted but quickly covered her mouth when she realized how loud she'd been.

"Again," Hiei started. "It wasn't the first time."

"But it was the first time since I met you," she pointed out.

"What difference does that make?" Hiei asked.

"You're my friend now," Kagome told him as though it should have been obvious. "You're part of my life, and I don't want to lose you."

Hiei froze. He wasn't sure how to respond. The silence began to stretch as his mind raced through what he should say. He knew that Kagome was looking at him, expecting something, but when nothing came, she began to fidget and look around the dark building.

"So, yeah," she said nervously in an attempt to fill the awkward silence. "Just be careful from now on, okay?"

"Yes," Hiei answered still feeling slightly awkward. When he noticed her become very still, he turned to face her. Kagome was staring at the empty space just above the well.

"He's here again," she muttered. "He's just staring at me." Kagome bit her lip to keep it from trembling as her eyes began to water. She closed her eyes tightly and began to wipe at them with the sleeve of her sweater.

"Come on," Hiei said as he grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. "You need to sleep."

Startled, Kagome shouted, "No! I told you that I can't!"

When Kagome tried to pull out of his grasp again, Hiei tightened his grip before knocking her off balance and picking her up. He tossed her over his shoulder, pinning her arms to her side with one arm and keeping her legs from kicking with the other.

"Hiei! Put me down!" Kagome yelled as she tried to wiggle free.

"Stop it," Hiei barked and was mildly surprised when it worked and she settled down. "You need to sleep. The others are here now, and they're capable of making sure that an assassin doesn't kill us." Hiei began making his way towards the house when Kagome began to wiggle again.

"What if there's a full-on attack?" She tried to reason. "What if they're overwhelmed?"

"Someone will wake us," he responded. Kagome's movements didn't cease and he almost dropped her as he attempted to open the door. Once again, uncomfortable best described how Kagome made him feel. Before Kagome, the most interaction he'd had with a woman was the time he spent with Mukuro. He decided that it was easier to deal with a woman hitting him than wiggling against him.

"Hiei?" Kurama questioned as he stood at the sight that the Hiei and Kagome presented. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Putting her to bed," Hiei grunted as Kagome almost fell from his shoulder again.

"Okay, but why are you carrying her?" Souta asked as he tried to hide his laughter.

"Because she's stubborn and delusional," Hiei answered as he continued through the kitchen and towards the stairs with Kagome yelling at him the entire way.

"I should go make sure that everything is okay," Kurama quickly said as he excused himself from the rest of the males seated at the table.

The three left in the kitchen listened until Kagome's bedroom door was shut forcefully, and then turned to look at each other.

"Just checking," Souta started as he looked at the two older men. "But I'm not the only one who sees it between those two, right?"

"Nope," Yusuke drawled with a wicked grin. "But Hiei has the emotional range of a spoon, so it'll be a miracle if they get anywhere."

Souta listened for any other noises from Kagome's room before he asked, "Can I ask you guys a question?"

"Shoot," Yusuke said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Hiei's been around the house for a while, but I don't really know anything about him. Is he a good guy?" Souta questioned.

Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at each other unsure of what to say. "He's not a bad guy," Kuwabara said.

When Souta frowned, Yusuke jumped in. "I think what Kuwabara's trying to say is…" Yusuke paused as he tried to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. "Hiei has a complicated past. He's not great with people, but that's part of why it's so funny watching him around your sister"

"Are you going to get to a point anytime soon?" Souta asked leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Did I sound that obnoxious when I spoke to my elders at his age?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara.

"No," the redhead answered. "You were worse."

"Shut up," Yusuke said as he punched his friend in the arm. Turning back to Souta, he continued, "I guess what I'm getting at is Hiei's a pretty good guy. He tries not to act like it, but he's come a long way from where he used to be."

"Okay," Souta said as he stood from his chair. "Thanks guys." After excusing himself, he walked upstairs and peaked into his sister's room. He waved at Kurama who was sitting in Kagome's desk chair reading while Kagome and Hiei slept. Seeing the two lying in the floor, Souta decided to help his sister. He knew that she liked Hiei and that Hiei liked her. It was just a matter of getting both of them to realize it.