Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho 1. Chapter One

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter One

It was an overcast day in Tokyo as Kurama strolled through a park not far from his home. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of autumn. Despite the lack of sunshine, he was quite enjoying the weather; it's what had prompted him to take a walk. A small breeze picked up causing a few orange and brown leaves to rustle across the path in front of him, and he pulled his jacket a little tighter around his body.

The park's exit gate was in view when a quick flash of motion to his left caught his attention. A casual glance to check what had moved resulted in a double-take. A young woman was running across one of the park's grassy fields and would every now and again call out for someone or something named "Naraku." But what caused him concern was her state of dress. She was only dressed in gray flannel pajama pants and a thin white t-shirt with neither shoes nor jacket. He watched as she stumbled, let out a small gasp, and fell.

Frowning, Kurama jogged towards the young woman, but made sure to approach her slowly so as not to scare her. When he was a few feet away he called out, "Excuse me, miss?" The only response he received was a soft whine as she shifted and tried to sit up. Kurama moved closer and kneeled down to help her into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Are you hurt?"

"I...I don't..." She mumbled as she looked down at her scraped and shaking hands.

Kurama watched her movements carefully and noticed what seemed to be a medical alert bracelet on her wrist. He reached out and gently grasped the wrist that held the bracelet. "May I?" He inquired. She didn't give him an answer, but she didn't pull away either. As he turned the bracelet to read the inscription on the wide piece of metal, he missed the way her eyes locked into his coat.

The bracelet read 'My name is Kagome Higurashi. If you find me, please either call or return me to Sunset Shrine.' A phone number and address followed. Kurama looked around and didn't see anyone who seemed to be looking for her, which didn't surprise him considering she wasn't dressed for the day's weather.

"Kagome?" He tested. Her eyes didn't leave his coat, but her head turned more towards him. He assumed she was listening and continued. "Are you lost?" He reached into his coat pocket only to realize that he'd left his phone at home. Checking the address again, he realized that the shrine was only a few blocks away. He was about to speak again when Kagome reached out and lightly gripped the fabric of his jacket.

"Red," she said softly. "Red, red, red," she repeated as she patted her hands over the red wool. Slowly moving one hand up to brush through his bangs, her eyes turned sad as she asked, "But where's the silver and gold?" When her thin fingers ran over his eyes he had to pull her hands away from his face. He wasn't angry or even annoyed, it was all just a bit much from someone he had just found in the park.

Pulling off his jacket, Kurama helped Kagome get her arms through the sleeves before helping her stand. "Okay Kagome," he started. "I'm going to take you home now."

"Home?" Kagome asked as she looked up at him quickly. "The village? Where's Inuyasha?" She began looking around frantically and took several steps away from Kurama. When she didn't find what she was looking for, Kagome brought her hands up to grip the sides of her head and crumpled back to the ground in tears.

Kurama quickly went to her side and heard her whimper, "I don't understand. Where are they?"

"I'll help you find them, Kagome. But you need to come with me for that to happen." Kurama helped her stand again and finally realized what bad shape she was in. She seemed very petite and frail, and he was almost afraid to touch her for fear that she would break. And then there were the dark circles under her glassy eyes. They contrasted gravely against her pale skin. Keeping one of her hands in his, Kurama turned his back to her, crouched, and asked, "Can you climb onto my back?" He didn't want her to walk through the streets with no shoes if she didn't have to. He almost thought he was going to have to pick her up and carry her, but he smiled when she wrapped her thin arms around his neck and situated herself on his back.

Kurama stood and bounced Kagome a little to hook his hand under her legs before he started off towards the shrine. He silently mused that she weighed much less than someone her height should. With as tired as she looked he half expected her to fall asleep on their trip, but he felt her fidget and drum her fingers against his chest the entire way. He was very careful not to lose his balance as he made his way up the tall shrine stairs and was happy to see a house easily in view once they reached the courtyard.

Making his way toward the only door to the house that he could see, Kurama quickly knocked on the door before returning the hand to support Kagome's weight. It didn't take long for the door to be jerked open. He and a middle-aged woman holding a phone stared at each other for a moment before she looked over his shoulder and almost burst into tears. She brought the phone back up to her ear and quickly told the person that Kagome was home before hanging up.

Kurama was ushered into the house before the woman gently helped Kagome down from his back. She turned to face him and smiled gratefully before saying, "Please have a seat. I want to get her situated and warmed up before thanking you properly." He was about to protest, but the woman was already guiding Kagome into another room. Sighing, Kurama took a seat at the kitchen table and waited for the woman's return.

It wasn't long before the older woman returned with his jacket in hand. "Thank you for waiting," she said as she handed him the jacket. "I can't thank you enough for bringing her home. Would you like some tea? It's too cold to walk around without a coat, so it should help you warm back up some."

Under normal circumstances Kurama would politely decline, but this time his curiosity regarding the situation made him change his mind. "That sounds wonderful of it isn't too much trouble."

As she smiled and set about heading up some water, the woman spoke, "I'm Risa Higurashi by the way. I'm Kagome's mother."

"It's very nice to meet you. I'm Shuichi Minamino," he reciprocated with a small seated bow.

"I'm very sorry if Kagome was any trouble," Risa said softly as she sat at the table and waited for the water to boil. "I hope you didn't have to go too far out of your way to bring her home. Where was she?"

"It wasn't far at all. She had only gotten to the park a few blocks away from here," Kurama reassured with a small wave. "What's the matter with her, if you don't mind my asking?"

Risa opened and closed her mouth before sighing. She was about to speak again when the small kettle began to whistle. Gesturing for him to wait a moment, she stood and finished making the tea before sitting back down at the table and handing Kurama his drink. "Her situation is a little difficult to explain. It's all happened so fast."

"Was there an accident?" Kurama asked curiously.

"No, nothing like that," Risa answered with a slight shake off her head. "Kagome developed a rare disease called Sporadic Fatal Insomnia. It's a non-inherited form of Fatal Familial Insomnia."

Unable to hide the shock on his face, Kurama questioned, "Fatal? I want aware that insomnia could be fatal."

"I wasn't either until this started happening," Risa chuckled tiredly. "Kagome was having trouble sleeping and it began affecting her behavior. We took her to the doctor and they ran some tests. She didn't have a mutated gene like those with the inherited version do, but there's some type of amino acid in her genes where there shouldn't be. We have no idea what triggered the onset of the disease."

"How long ago was that?" Kurama asked. This possibility had never even crossed his mind as possible problems the young woman might have.

"Less than a year," Risa sighed as she sipped her tea. Laughing a humorless laugh, she said, "I can't believe I'm telling you this! I've only just met you and it was after you did our family an enormous favor. You don't need to be burdened with this."

"It's perfectly fine," he said with a small smile. "I did ask, after all. So are there no treatments for her? Is she not able to take medication to help her sleep?"

"No," Risa answered. "There are no treatments or cures. The doctor said that we could try a sleep aid during the early stages, but it wasn't recommended. It doesn't work in more than seventy-five percent of cases and can actually cause the disease to progress quicker."

Despite just meeting them, Kurama's heart broke a little for this family. "I'm sorry to ask such a terrible question, but how long do the doctors say that she has left?"

"She's only twenty-three," Risa said sadly. "She might make it to her birthday in the spring, but it will be a miracle if she makes it to the summer."

"I'm so terribly sorry," Kurama said as he reached across to pat the woman's hand.

Drying a few tears, Risa said, "So am I. She used to be so happy and full of energy. She had such a long life ahead of her."

"She seemed a little...confused when I found her in the park. Is that normal?" He asked.

"For the most part," she answered with a nod. "Hallucinations and dementia are part of the progression. She has some lucid days, but I think she's lost in the past more often than not now."

"She mentioned some friends that she needed to find while we were in the park. Do they ever come to visit?" Kurama asked. Even if Kagome wasn't always aware of what was happening around her, it must be lonely if she never got visitors.

Risa stiffened a little before answering, "She was probably talking about a small group of friends that she had while she was in school. They live very far away and Kagome lost touch with them several years ago. I don't have any way of getting in touch with them now."

Kurama nodded and hummed a little as he sipped his tea. "I have to admit that I'm curious as to how she got out on her own," he said as he leaned forward some. "She obviously wasn't dressed for it."

"I feel so ashamed that it happened," Risa confessed. "My father-in-law was going to watch her while I ran to the store just around the corner. We try to keep all the doors and windows locked, but you can only do so much when trying to contain an otherwise healthy adult. Grandpa had to tend to something in the shrine's gift shop and that was all the time that she needed to get outside. It's only happened a couple of times, but it terrifies me every time. I was on the phone with the police when you arrived."

"That must be hard," Kurama commented with a small frown. "How often does she sleep?"

"Not often at all anymore; no more than a few minutes at a time for a few weeks now. Her grandfather and I take turns staying up with her so that nothing like this happens," Risa explained with a tired look.

"Is it just the two of you?" Kurama asked concerned. If Risa was any indication, they were wearing thin already.

"There's also my son, Kagome's younger brother. He likes to help when he's able, but he's still in high school and needs to study and get his rest," she said. "Kagome's father passed away before Souta was born."

After all of the shocking and troubling information, Kurama changed the subject while they finished their tea and Risa seemed glad for it. When it was time for him to go they both stood and he thanked her for the tea.

"No, I should thank you. Not only did you bring my daughter home safe and sound, you listened while I got some things off of my chest. It was nice to talk to someone," she smiled up at the tall redhead. "You have to let me pay you for your trouble," she suddenly added as she crossed to where her coat and purse were hanging on a hook.

"Absolutely not," Kurama answered as he held up a hand to stop her. "I didn't mind helping, and I wouldn't feel right taking your money. But would you mind if I said goodbye to Kagome?" He asked tentatively hoping that he wasn't overstepping any lines.

Risa smiled as she slowly placed her wallet back in her purse. Grateful, she answered, "I'm sure she would like that."

She lead him into a small sitting room where Kagome was curled up in a plush chair with a blanket wrapped around her and was watching a movie. An elderly man who he assumed was her grandfather was napping on the couch. Kurama walked over to Kagome's chair and crouched down so that he was closer to her level. "Hello Kagome. Do you remember me?"

Kagome turned to look at him and blinked a couple of times before smiling and saying "You're Red."

Chuckling, Kurama nodded. "Yes. I just wanted to come tell you goodbye. I'm leaving now."

"Can I see your ears next time?" She suddenly asked.

"My ears are right here," he said with a smile as he moved some of his long hair out of the way.

Kagome shook her head before patting the top of his head and saying, "No, these."

Slightly stunned, Kurama wasn't sure what to say. He'd heard that humans that were further away from their sanity could be more spiritually aware, but he'd never experienced it.

Not waiting for him to speak, Kagome continued. "I have a secret," she whispered. Crooking her finger to beckon him closer, she whispered, "I have a special little jewel that monsters want." She made a small circle with her thumb and forefinger and brought it to her eye to look through.

Kurama chuckled a little and decided to play along. "Is that so?" He asked. "And where is this little jewel? May I see it?"

Kagome patted her side just above her hip and answered, "It's right here." She shifted and gave him what could only be an appraising look before she leaned closer and quietly asked, "Are you a good monster or a bad monster?"

Kurama was taken aback. He had assumed her allusion to his true nature was due to her mental state, but when he felt a light wall of pure, holy energy buffer against his senses he thought he may have been wrong in his assumption. Was this girl actually a priestess? When was the last time that he had encountered one with any real power?

Unaware of his surprise, Kagome continued to whisper, "I think you're a good monster. But I can't let you see it! I can tell you it's named Shikon, though. I have to protect it from Naraku." She quickly pressed a finger to her lips and reminded him, "But shhhh, you have to remember that it's a secret."

Up until that point, Kurama almost could have dismissed her words as a sick girl's delusions, but the names that she'd used rang a bell somewhere in his mind. It was a bell connected to a very old, almost ancient, memory. But the details were just out of his reach. Slightly unsettled by her words and power, Kurama stood and bid Kagome one more farewell, which she reciprocated, and he walked back into the kitchen to speak with Kagome's mother.

"Mrs. Higurashi," he began slowly. "Would you mind if I spoke to a friend of mine about Kagome?"

Suddenly on guard against any possible danger to her child, Risa warily asked, "What about?"

"I have a friend who is a professional home caregiver, a bit of a mix of nurse and sitter," Kurama explained.

"Oh, we've talked to doctors about people like that. We can't afford those types of services," Risa quickly spoke.

Smiling, Kurama continued, "I'm sorry, I should have clarified. My friend works for a non-profit organization that helps provide care services to people who normally wouldn't be able to afford it." When he saw that Risa seemed to be considering his offer, he added, "You wouldn't need to make a commitment. I could see if she's available and then possibly bring her by for you to speak with yourself. I offer because, if you don't mind my saying so, it seems like a difficult job for just the two of you to watch after and take care of Kagome."

"I might be offended by that if I weren't so tired," Risa said as she rubbed her aching eyes. Thinking over the proposition for another moment, she sighed and gave in. "Okay, you can talk to your friend. Let me give you my number so that you can let me know when you might come with your friend."

Kurama tucked the small piece of paper that she gave him into his jacket pocket before he gave a slight bow and wished her a pleasant evening. It felt like a long walk back to his apartment, and his mood made the wind seem colder than it really was. He thought about the family that he'd just left. All he could think about was the time when his mother was terminally ill. That had likely been the most difficult time in his life, including his battles against demons and enemies of the human and spirit worlds. He had felt so completely helpless and useless. Comparing what his situation had been to the Higurashi's, he wasn't sure if Kagome's rapid progression was a blessing or a curse.

When he made it to his apartment, Kurama took Risa Higurashi's phone number out of his pocket and hung up his jacket. He grabbed his cell phone off of its charger, sat down at his computer, and opened up a search engine. He intended to learn more about the disease that he'd never been aware of. As he read through several different articles, he decided to give Keiko a call.

The phone rang a couple of times before a masculine voice answered the call. "Y'ello?"

"Hello Yusuke," Kurama said with a small smile. "Is Keiko home?"

"Yeah," Yusuke drawled suspiciously. "But why do you need to talk to her?"

"I wanted to let her know that we can't continue our sordid affair," he answered dryly. "Your friendship just means too much to me, Yusuke."

"Ha ha, smartass," Yusuke groused. "What do you really need her for?"

Kurama laughed at Yusuke's response. "I need to speak with her about the organization that she works for," he explained.

"Fine, hold on a second," Yusuke said before yelling for Keiko to come to the phone.

Kurama vaguely wondered how Keiko managed to put up with Yusuke sometimes. But his attention was brought back to the phone when he heard Yusuke yelp in pain just before Keiko answered the phone. "Kurama?" She asked.

"Yes, good evening Keiko. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine," she answered genially. "You don't usually call for me. What can I do for you?"

"I helped a young woman earlier today. I met her mother when I took her home, and I think they may be in need of your organization's services," Kurama broadly explained.

"Really?" Keiko asked genuinely curious. "Do you know what's wrong?"

"The woman I helped, Kagome, has a disease called Sporadic Fatal Insomnia," he paused when Keiko cut in.

"That's terrible!" She exclaimed.

"So you've heard of it?" He asked.

"I did a paper on types of insomnia when I was in college. That's a horrible and incredibly rare type to have," Keiko stated.

"Yes, well Kagome is twenty-three and only has her mother and grandfather to consistently help look after her. While I was speaking with her mother, I thought of you and mentioned it to her. Would you be interested in speaking to her again with me?" Kurama asked.

"Sure," Keiko agreed. "I have some paperwork that I have to do at the office tomorrow, but I'll be free by the late afternoon if that's okay."

"That should be fine," Kurama assured. "I'll give Mrs. Higurashi a call and let her know about when we'll be stopping by."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Kurama and Keiko ended their conversation and Kurama focused on a different task. He opened the top drawer to his desk and rummaged around a little before finding his team communicator. He flipped the small device open and pressed a small blue button that gave him a direct line to the team's ferry girl.

"Hello, hello!" Botan answered cheerfully as her face popped up on the communicator's small screen. "Ah, Kurama! It's been a while. There haven't been any missions lately. Do you need something?"

"Hello Botan," Kurama smiled politely. "I need you to look up some information for me, if you don't mind."

"Sure!" The blue-haired girl chirped. "What do you need?"

"I need you to look up everything that you can find on a jewel called Shikon. I heard the name earlier today, and I feel like I know it from somewhere important." Kurama almost ended the conversation before he thought to add, "Oh, and can you get back to me as soon as possible?"

"No problem!" Botan answered. "I'm sure I can get George to help me look up the file in no time. I'll let you know what I find."

"Thanks," Kurama smiled at his friend.

Botan winked back at him before the screen's picture cut out and went black.

Leaning back in his chair, Kurama stared at his cellphone for a few moments before he picked it up and dialed a long-memorized number. A woman's voice picked up on the other end and he smiled. "Hello Mother. I just wanted to call and tell you that I love you."


	2. Chapter Two

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Two 

Kurama sat in the park he'd been walking through the previous day as he waited for Keiko to meet him. A young couple walked past him hand-in-hand as his thoughts wandered to the previous night.

* * *

_Botan had certainly gotten back to him quickly. He was getting ready for bed when he heard the small 'pop' that accompanied the portal she used to teleport between worlds. Making his way into his living room, Kurama was greeted by the energetic reaper as she straightened her kimono._

_"Kurama!" Botan enthused as she plopped down to sit on his couch. "I'll have you know you ran across quite an interesting name."_

_Taking a seat at the opposite end of the couch, Kurama's curiosity piqued. "What were you able to find out?" He asked._

_"Well," Botan began as she turned to him looking every bit like a schoolgirl getting ready to gossip. "The only 'Shikon' that we have on record is the Shikon no Tama, also known as the Jewel of Four Souls. It was created almost a millennia ago during the height of a fierce battle between a powerful priestess and a formidable demon made up of many other demons. The jewel contains the souls of the priestess and demon who are said to still be battling inside the jewel to this day! It's also said that the thing can grant any wish! It traded hands many times before it came into the possession of a tribe of demon slayers several centuries ago. They found a priestess to look after it, but that ended in a very tragic story." Botan became quiet for a moment before snapping out of it and getting back to her story. "Anyway, the jewel was burned with the priestess's body and disappeared for a while. It popped up again a while later though—I think the files said about fifty years—and it was shattered! That caused this big hullabaloo with demons and humans both searching for the pieces. It came down to a small group including the priestess that shattered it in the first place fighting against a half-demon named Naraku; what a creepy name!" Botan took a breath to continue, but was cut off by Kurama._

_"Wait, what did you say the half-demon's name was?" Kurama questioned seriously._

_Botan blinked. "Umm...Naraku. Honestly, I glossed over a lot of the names involved because there was a __lot in that file, but I guess that name just stuck with me. Why?"_

_"I heard that name earlier too," he said. "I'm sorry, I interrupted you. Please continue."_

_"Well there's not much to it after that, actually," Botan shrugged. "The priestess's group won, destroyed the demon, and completed the jewel. Not long after that the priestess and the jewel both completely disappeared. There's nothing about them after that in the records, and the jewel hasn't been seen since. It's assumed that she died and the jewel was burned with her as was done previously, but her soul was pulled from the reincarnation cycle. Of course we don't have any records of that either. Spirit World was still working on creating Demon World and building a barrier, so a lot of things slipped by until it was too late. The records from that far back are usually spotty at best. Most of what we had on the jewel was collected from interviews after everything was done and over with."_

_It occurred to Kurama where he knew the name Shikon from. It was a thieves legend. The ultimate bounty. After it seemed to disappear, rumors had spread as to its true whereabouts, but none of them were substantial. He had hunted it in his youth as Youko, but he soon dismissed it as a fable. "How common is knowledge about the jewel?" Kurama asked._

_"That's hard to say," Botan mused as she thought on the question. "I had never heard of it until you brought it up, but I'm sure beings older than me would know. I think it's some sort of demon myth isn't it? But there's no telling how many demons believe in it anymore. And I'm hesitant to even venture a guess with humans. There may be a few who still know the story, maybe some temples or shrines that pass it down, but I'd probably say not many know about it. I'd be surprised if anything but the basics of the story survived in this world today."_

_"Thanks Botan," Kurama said as his thoughts began to race. Kagome lived on a shrine, so it's possible that she had heard the story growing up. But what were the chances that she would know a specific name related to the tale? He was most likely thinking about this way too much. It was probably a coincidence. They happened every day, like with he and his step-brother sharing the same given name. Then again, how often were they just coincidences when related to something demonic?_

_"It's no problem!" Botan chirped. "Though I'm curious, why did you want to know about the jewel?"_

_"I met someone who mentioned it by name earlier, along with Naraku. She was a human, but I think she might be a priestess," he explained._

_"Really? A priestess?" Botan asked slightly surprised. "That's pretty rare these days."_

_"I know," Kurama agreed. "That's what I thought too."_

_"And you said she knew about the jewel and Naraku?" Botan prodded further._

_Kurama nodded. "I'm seeing her again tomorrow with Keiko. I'm not sure how much more information I can get from her given her condition, but I'm going to see if I can learn anything else about it."_

_"Her condition?" Botan questioned._

_"She's sick, a type insomnia that's killing her," Kurama explained simply._

_Botan merely hummed in acknowledgement. She was a reaper. Death rarely fazed her or made her sad. It was just a fact for her that humans died, priestess or not. "What did you say her name was?"_

_"I didn't," Kurama answered. "But her name is Kagome Higurashi. She lives with her family at the Sunset Shrine here in Tokyo."_

_"I'll check her life file in the spirit records and see if there's anything odd that stands out, just in case your investigation doesn't turn up much," she said._

_"Does Koenma know that you're looking into all of this for me?" Kurama asked as he cast the ferry girl a knowing look._

_"Not exactly," Botan fidgeted. "I have someone covering my reaper duties in the area. I'll tell him about it if it seems serious enough, but I didn't see any point in getting him in a fit if it turns out to be nothing."_

_"Good call," Kurama said with a smile._

* * *

Kurama checked his watch just before hearing Keiko's voice. "Kurama!" She called out to him as she jogged over to where he was sitting. "Sorry I'm a little late. There were a few more files than I thought."

"You aren't all that late," he said with a smile as he stood from the park bench. "Only a few minutes."

"Still," Keiko protested as the pair fell into step and began their walk to the shrine. "I hate being late, especially when I have an appointment!"

"Always the perfectionist, hmm?" Kurama teased. He laughed when Keiko pushed him with her shoulder.

"So you just met this family yesterday?" Keiko asked. "What made you decide to go this far out of your way for a complete stranger?"

Thinking for a moment, Kurama said, "I think there's more to Kagome than one might think."

"You're investigating her?" Keiko asked incredulously. "_Seriously_, Kurama? She's sick, for crying out loud! What could you possibly be investigating?"

"I believe that she may know more about an ancient relic than the average human should," Kurama explained.

Keiko merely roller her eyes at his carefully worded answer. "You really like being vague, don't you?"

"A bit," he smiled at the shorter woman as they began their trek up the tall staircase that lead to the shrine.

When they made it to the shrine's courtyard, Kurama directed Keiko over to the house and knocked on the door he'd used the previous day. He smiled pleasantly when Risa answered the door. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Higurashi. This is my friend Keiko Urameshi. She's the person I spoke to you about yesterday."

"It's very nice to meet you Ms. Urameshi," Risa said with a bow. "My name is Risa Higurashi. Please, both of you, come in and I'll fix us something to drink."

"Thank you very much," Keiko smiled as she and Kurama entered the house. She slipped her light jacket off and hung it on a hook pointed out to her by Risa. "Though I'm actually _Mrs._ Urameshi," she corrected as she held up her hand and pointed out her wedding ring.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Risa apologized with a light laugh. "You look like you're about my daughter's age. I'm sure you can understand how it is for us old people; you always see your children and their peers as still being _children_. It's still so hard to think that your generation is old enough to start getting married and having families of your own."

"Trust me, my mother feels the same way," Keiko laughed along with the older woman. She and Kurama sat at the kitchen table when instructed, and she got to business. "So Kur-umm...Shuichi tells me that your daughter is ill."

Risa's shoulders drooped a little as she brought a small tray of drinks and snacks to the table. "Yes," she confirmed. "And I'm afraid that we're all having to spread ourselves a little too thin to give her the care that she needs. It leads to accidents like yesterday when she left the house when no one was watching."

Keiko nodded her understanding before pulling a small notepad and a pen from her purse. "Do you mind if I jot down some notes? It'll help to have the information in front of me when I talk to my boss about your situation tomorrow."

"I don't mind," Risa said with a sad smile.

"And your daughter's name is Kagome Higurashi?" Keiko asked. She'd heard Kurama call her by the name, but she had to make sure.

"Yes, Kagome Hanae Higurashi," Risa provided.

"And how old is she?"

"She's twenty-three. She'll be twenty-four in March," Risa said as she fiddled nervously with her cup.

"And Shuichi said that she has Sporadic Fatal Insomnia. Is that right?" Keiko asked looking up from her notepad.

"Yes," Risa answered.

"Let me know if any questions become too personal, okay?" Keiko asked. When Risa nodded, she continued, "Can you tell me what stage she's in?"

Risa swallowed thickly. "Stage three. She doesn't sleep anymore. She'll close her eyes for a few minutes every day or two, but that's about it. She's also began to lose a lot of weight over the last couple of weeks."

Keiko hummed lightly. "Yes, from what I know that's common for stage three. How many people do you currently have who can care for Kagome?"

"Two, sometimes three," Risa said. "It's usually just me and Kagome's grandfather, my father-in-law. My son, Souta, helps out when he can, but he's still in high school. He wants to help more than he does, but I always make him focus on his studies."

"Okay," Keiko drawled as she finished jotting down the last of her notes. "And where is Kagome now? I'd like to meet her if you don't mind. It would let me get a better read of her condition and personality. Those factors will come into play when matching her with a caregiver."

"So you think that your organization will be willing to help us?" Risa asked hopefully.

Keiko smiled and nodded. "From what I've heard, you have a fairly strong need for our assistance, but my boss and our chairman have the final say. Even if we are able to send someone to help you, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to have someone here at all hours. Would you say that you need help more during the day or at night?"

"Well," Risa thought for a moment. "Probably at night. Grandpa has the shrine to run during the day, Souta has school, and I still have to take care of the house and the rest of our family. If someone could sit with her at night, I can't even tell you how grateful we would be."

"We'll do our best," Keiko said as she smiled and patted Risa's hand in an attempt to comfort the woman. "So may I meet your daughter?"

"Oh, yes!" Risa said as she began to stand. "I completely forgot. I'll go get her." She retrieved her coat from a nearby hook and turned back to the two at her kitchen table. "It's actually very lucky that you were able to come today. She's having one of her good days; she seems much more lucid than usual."

"Where is she?" Kurama asked curious as to why Risa would need a coat.

"When she's aware enough to know what she's doing, Kagome likes to meditate in our main shrine building. Even at this stage of the disease, I think it helps her some. She does what she can to keep her mind clear and focused," Risa explained. "Souta took his homework out there so that he could sit with her. I'll be right back with both of them."

With the Higurashi matriarch out of the room, Kurama turned to face Keiko. "So do you really think they'll be able to get the help that they need?"

"I do," Keiko murmured as she looked over her notes again. "But a lot of it will be determined by what I see in Kagome when I talk to her."

Kurama nodded as he picked up a small snack cookie from the tray. The kitchen was quiet until the door opened again to reveal Risa, Kagome, and a young man that Kurama had yet to meet.

"Kagome," Risa began softly as she helped her daughter out of her large sweater-jacket. "This is Mrs. Keiko Urameshi. She'd like to talk to you for a little while. Are you feeling up to it?"

Kagome nodded as she unwrapped the pink scarf that had been wrapped around her neck. As she stepped into the kitchen she stopped and her dark blue eyes locked onto Kurama.

"Oh, do you remember Mr. Minamino? You met him yesterday," her mother prompted.

Kagome was silent as she stared at Kurama. She narrowed her eyes a little in concentration as she studied him, like she was trying to place him but couldn't quite get there. Kurama was about to greet her when he felt the same power as the day before lightly brush against him. It recoiled quickly, and Kagome seemed to come to her senses again. "No," she finally answered. "I'm sorry, I just have trouble remembering sometimes."

Giving her a quick once-over, Kurama tried not to frown. She spoke very slowly, and her voice seemed much softer and more tired than the day before. Her eyes and cheeks also seemed a little more sunken, but he wasn't sure if it was just in his mind or not.

"Come on, dear," Risa said as she held her daughter's arm in an attempt to steady her. "Let's get you comfortable in the living room, and you and Mrs. Urameshi can speak in there." When Kagome nodded, Risa motioned for Keiko to follow them. "Souta, you stay in here and keep working on your homework," she called over her shoulder.

Without a word, Souta placed his books on the kitchen table but didn't sit down. Kurama looked up at the teen and saw that he was being glared at. "Is there a problem?" He asked as politely as he could.

Souta crossed his arms over his chest and frowned deeper. "Why are you here?" He asked.

"I'm trying to help your sister," Kurama responded. "I didn't meet you yesterday, but surely your mother told you what happened."

"Yeah," Souta said shortly as he tugged out a chair and sat down hard, never uncrossing his arms. "But that still doesn't tell me why you're here."

Genuinely at a loss, Kurama caved, "I apologize, but I really don't understand what you're asking."

"I mean," Souta said as he leaned forward enough to rest his elbows on the table. "Your kind don't usually come to places like this. So why are _you_ here?"

"My _kind_?" Kurama asked, curious as to what the boy was alluding to.

"Don't play dumb," Souta said flatly as he stared Kurama in the eye. "You're on a shrine. I'm from a long line of priests. My grandfather is a priest and my sister is a _powerful_ priestess."

The message had finally been delivered. _'Ah,'_ Kurama thought as he leaned back in his chair a little. _'I'm always up for a little bit of playtime.'_ Smiling, Kurama asked, "And what exactly is it that you think I am?"

"I don't _think_ anything," Souta said as he pulled a small piece of paper out of a notebook and quickly scribbled a design on it. He slapped it onto the table between them and the table glowed blue for a moment.

Kurama quickly drew away from the holy power and hissed through his teeth as it signed him slightly. He looked up, surprised, at the cocky look now on the teenager's face.

"_Demon_," Souta named him.

Straightening, Kurama pushed aside his playful mood. "There aren't many humans with power like that left in the world, and I highly doubt that you're self-trained. Where did you learn that type of control?"

"My sister," Souta answered. "She started teaching me when I was just a kid. Gramps never showed any signs of power, but Kagome and I did. I'm not nearly as strong as she is..._was_, but she taught me as much as she could. And now it's my turn to protect her, so I want to know why you're here."

Kurama was a little surprised with the boy. He was right that he didn't have much power, but his spirit seemed to more than make up for that. "I'm not here to hurt your sister," Kurama tried to reassure as he lifted his hands in a sign of peace. "Quite the opposite, actually. She and your family seem to genuinely need help. I'm only doing what I can."

"And what's in it for you?" Souta asked.

"I would have done this without getting anything in return," Kurama prefaced. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not after something. Very astute of you." When Souta smiled a little at the praise, he continued, "Kagome mentioned something to me yesterday that I'm very curious to learn more about. More specifically, I would like to know how she knows about it at all."

"And what's that?" Souta asked.

"The Shikon no Tama or Jewel of Four Souls, whichever you prefer," he answered.

Souta snorted. "I can tell you that. We grew up with those stories. Do you know the story of it?"

"I know the gist," Kurama confirmed.

"Well the part where the priestess kills her half-demon lover, died, and had the jewel burned with her body happened here," he said. "We even sell cheap little replicas of the jewel in the gift shop."

Kurama was a little disappointed at the anticlimactic answer to part of his question, but he laughed at what Souta had said. "I certainly hope you're not in charge of the shop. Your sales pitch could use a little work."

For the first time since entering the house, Souta laughed. "No, that's Grandpa's area. He can sell that stuff to just about anyone. I'd steer clear of it if I were you."

"I'll be sure to do that," Kurama said. The tension in the air relaxed and he decided to prod the boy for some more answers. "Your sister said something else to me yesterday when she mentioned the jewel. It's something that wouldn't likely be in any of the stories or legends. She named the evil demon from the jewel's history. I had a friend check into it, and it turns out that your sister knew his actual name."

Souta's eyes grew a little wider as he stammered, "I…um…"

"She also told me that she has the jewel in her possession; inside her body to be exact," Kurama finished.

Souta's entire body stiffened and he began to slowly reach for the sutra that he'd drawn earlier.

"Now, now," Kurama placated. "I'm not here to cause trouble. Like I said, I want to help. I work for a very powerful demigod. He has a team, which I'm part of, that work to keep this world safe from demons. If the stories about this jewel are true, it's something that needs to be protected. If you know about it as well, I'm sure you know the rumors of its power."

"They _aren't_ rumors," Souta ground out. "I know exactly what that jewel is and how powerful it is. I know what it does to demons, and I know that my sister almost died time and again trying to keep it out of the wrong hands! And as far as protecting it goes, Kagome is the only person able to do it. She was born to protect it."

Kurama watched Souta take a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down. Treading gently, he continued, "Your sister is very ill. If what you said about her being the only one who can protect the jewel is true, what do you think will happen to it when she's gone?"

Souta looked as though he was going to protest the very idea for a moment before he closed his mouth and looked down at the table with a stubborn frown.

"If you can tell me more about it, I'll be able to talk to my boss and see what our options are," Kurama explained.

With the hard look back in his eyes, Souta locked eyes with Kurama and asked, "How do I know you aren't trying to get information just to try and take it?"

"Do you believe that you're a good judge of character, Souta?" Kurama asked him.

Souta chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few seconds before slowly nodding. "Yeah, I guess," he answered.

"Then you tell me; do you think I'm going to try to take the jewel?" Kurama sat back in his chair and opened himself up to the young man's scrutiny.

After a minute or two of examining and thinking, Souta eventually shook his head. "No," he said. "I've seen evil demons. I don't think you're one of them."

"Then are you willing to help me?" Kurama asked as he extended his right hand in a gesture of trust.

Souta stared at the hand for a moment before finally taking it with his own right hand in a firm grip. "Sure."

It was almost an hour later when Keiko and Risa came back into the kitchen announcing that they were done for the day. Kurama bade the family goodbye and he and Keiko took their leave for the evening. They chatted during their walk, but they eventually had to go their separate ways. Keiko promised to call him when she knew something about Kagome's situation, and Kurama thanked her before continuing on his way.

When he arrived home, he got comfortable and fixed himself some supper before sitting down at his desk once again. He picked up his communicator from where he'd left it beside his computer, flipped it open, and pressed the little blue button. "Botan," he said once the ferry girl popped up on the screen. "I think I may need to schedule a meeting with Koenma."


	3. Chapter Three

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Three

The sight of ogres running through stacks of paper brought a smile to Kurama's face. It had been a while since he'd been to Spirit World, and it was nice to see that things hadn't really changed. As he approached Koenma's office, the large doors opened for him with a slight creak and closed behind him with the same noise. Quickly looking over his surroundings, Kurama noted Koenma behind his desk and a nervous Botan standing to the side with several files and notebooks in hand.

"Kurama," Koenma greeted him as he stamped one last paper before pushing his work aside for the moment. "Botan tells me that the two of you have something that you need to discuss with me."

"That's correct," Kurama said as he took a seat before the child-god's desk. "It's pertaining to the Jewel of Four Souls."

Koenma hummed. "That's a name that I haven't heard in a very long time."

"So you know of it?" Kurama questioned.

"Of course!" Koenma answered as he leaned back in his chair. "How could I not? It caused quite a bit of trouble several centuries ago, but we were so busy at the time that we didn't have anyone to handle it. By the time we could spare someone, the matter had sorted itself out and the jewel had disappeared." Koenma stretched his arms high above his head before relaxing again. "That thing is nothing but trouble as far as I'm concerned."

"Do you know of its current location?" Kurama asked.

"Unfortunately no," Koenma admitted. "It disappeared soon after the war that it caused had ended. We were never able to track it down."

Kurama glanced over at Botan and could see her fidget. She was obviously nervous about this conversation. Deciding to be direct, Kurama announced, "I believe that Botan and I have tracked down the jewel's location."

The room was quiet for a moment before Koenma sat up a little straighter and laughed, but the sound came out nervous and tense. "I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?" He asked.

Steeling himself for whatever reaction Koenma was about to have, Kurama repeated, "Botan and I have located the Jewel of Four Souls."

"You must be mistaken," Koenma told him out of pure denial. "It's been more than five hundred years since the jewel was last seen, and you say that you've actually found it?"

"Yes, sir," Botan finally chimed in quietly.

"That's impossible!" Koenma shouted. "You couldn't have just _found_ it," he insisted.

"I assure you that we did," Kurama said calmly as he waited for Koenma to take in what he was being told.

Shaking his head, Koenma continued to deny what he was being told. "But you couldn't have. We searched for it for decades! Where did you find it?"

"It's with a young woman," Kurama said. "I found her in a park in Tokyo."

Koenma sat in stunned silence for several seconds before jumping back into the conversation. "Overlooking the park in Tokyo, how did a human woman come to possess it?" He questioned the detective.

"I spoke with a member of her family," Kurama explained. "According to them, she was born with it inside her body."

"Her _family_ knows about the jewel?" Koenma shouted. "No, no, no, that's not important right now. There is no way that this woman was born with it. I remember the basics of the jewel's story. The only way for her to be born with it is for the soul it was burned with to be reincarnated. After it was burned with the last official guardian, it popped up fifty years later, and that threw everyone for a loop because exactly _how_ that happened was a mystery. The guardian that it appeared with didn't die. They just disappeared. This woman _could not_ have been born with it in her body."

Botan cleared her throat to catch the men's attention. "I think I might actually have an explanation for that, sir," she said as she shifted the files in her arms. When Koenma gave her an expectant look, she gently set her armload down on the corner of his desk and grabbed a small notebook. "This is the life file of Kagome Higurashi, the woman who currently has the jewel. I don't think anyone caught that she had the jewel because for the first several years of her life, the file reads like any other teenage girl. But the file gets a little...strange when it reaches her fifteenth birthday."

"Strange how?" Koenma asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"As you know, sir, a human's life file contains their entire life written down so that reapers can know when, where, and how they will die. It allows us to review their life and guide them to wherever they need to go. Well, Miss Higurashi's file after her fifteenth birthday is...well, it's smudged out and looks like it was written over."

"That can't be right," Koenma said as he crawled across his desk to snatch the file from Botan's hands. Sitting on the desk's surface, the demigod flipped through the pages and shook his head. "This isn't possible," he murmured.

"I've only seen one other file like it," Botan said as she pulled a small notebook out of her kimono's sleeve and handed it to her boss.

Koenma grabbed the file and flipped through its pages as well. Realization dawned on him and he quietly said, "This is…"

"Yusuke's," Botan finished for him. "Yusuke wasn't meant to die on the day that he did. He had a very different destiny. But somehow he deviated and changed it. I believe that Miss Higurashi also somehow managed to deviate from her written path, and her life was drastically changed because of it."

"Do we know what happened?" Koenma asked as he returned to flipping through Kagome's file.

"I studied it for a while, and even though the original words are almost gone, it looks like on her birthday she and her younger brother were debating on who was going to go into an old building on their shrine to look for their cat. Her brother was supposed to go, but Kagome went instead."

Koenma looked around the desk before asking, "Well what about the boy? How damaged is his file?"

Botan rummaged through her stack of folders before pulling out another small notebook. "It's not as bad as you would think. There are a few incidents with demons and the like that weren't supposed to happen, but his file is largely unchanged."

"So what is this woman's destiny now?" Koenma questioned Botan as he continued flipping through Kagome's life file. He stopped when he ran across another anomaly however.

Gesturing to the page that the young god was on, Botan said, "She doesn't have one anymore."

This was the first that Kurama had heard of the development and it startled him. "How is that possible?" He asked.

"She changed her path so much, that there was no way for her to get back to her original destiny. And if she deviated once, she had a high chance of doing it again. The rest of her file has been smudged out and now things are just being written down as they happen," Botan explained. Koenma turned the file around so that Kurama could watch line after line being added. "Yusuke's file is the same way," Botan added. "Everyone has a destiny set out for them from the moment they're born. It's very, very rare, but every so often someone will change something so big that they'll end up writing their own destiny. Honestly, I only know of a few times that it's ever happened. What are the chances that I would run across two cases?"

"So her disease?" Kurama slowly questioned.

With a sad frown, Botan nodded. "It was never meant to happen. It's just an extremely bad stroke of luck."

"Wait," Koenma interrupted as he began flipping pages again. "What disease?"

"Kagome has a disease that's killing her," Kurama answered.

Koenma flipped a few more pages before suddenly snapping the notebook shut. "We are getting off topic," he announced. "How does this woman have the jewel in the first place?"

Surprised that her boss hadn't looked it up in the file, Botan simply answered, "She's the reincarnation of the last guardian."

"No, there's no record of the last guardian dying, so she can't be" Koenma argued.

"The last guardian that you're talking about, the one that suddenly appeared and then disappeared," Botan clarified, "is Kagome Higurashi."

"What?" Koenma shouted. "That was more than five hundred years ago! This woman," he said as he waved the file before quickly opening it to check something. "This woman is only twenty-three!"

"The event that changed her life so much was getting pulled five hundred years into the past via an old well on her family's shrine," Botan explained.

Koenma gaped at his reaper for a moment before he began flipping pages again so that he could begin reading at the beginning of the event. After several minutes, he mumbled, "So...she's the rightful guardian?"

"Yes," Kurama and Botan answered in unison.

Koenma set aside Kagome's file before slowly crawling back to slump in his seat. "And you said she has a disease that's killing her? Tell me about that."

Taking back the conversation, Kurama explained, "She's unable to sleep and truly rest. Even as the jewel's guardian, she's only human. Her lack of rest is causing her body to slowly shut down."

"How long does she have left?" Koenma asked even as he seemed to become lost in his own thoughts.

"At most, less than a year," Kurama answered.

Koenma rubbed his eyes. This was not what he had expected to hear when Botan and Kurama requested this meeting. "And what of the jewel?"

"She still has it," Kurama assured. "Apparently after her journey in the past was complete, the jewel returned to her body and she returned home."

Koenma groaned before laying his head down on his desk and closing his eyes.

Worried, Botan asked, "Sir, what's wrong?"

"I have a hard decision to make between two impossible choices," he informed her.

"I don't think I understand," Botan confessed.

"I have two options: Wait until she dies and the jewel is placed with her reincarnation who won't know how to protect it, or take it from her and place it in our vault," Koenma explained. "With the first option, we would have to make sure that her body is burned with the jewel, track her soul's reincarnation, and hope we can spare someone to guard every reincarnation she will have. This is an incredibly dangerous gamble given that there may come a day when we can't spare a guard. If the reincarnation is attacked and the jewel is taken, we may not be able to handle the fallout. I would say that the second option is the safest, but it wasn't that long ago that I was proven wrong," Koenma said as he sat up and gave Kurama a pointed look. "Though we've tightened security, we've been shown that our vault _can_ be broken into."

"So what can be done?" Kurama asked ignoring the annoyed look that Koenma was shooting him.

"Ideally, since this woman is the same one from the jewel's legends and knows of the jewel and how to protect it, it would stay with her until we could work something out," Koenma answered. "But it appears that we don't have much time." Stopping to think for a moment, Koenma asked, "And I'm to assume that there is no way for her condition to be cured?"

Kurama shook his head as he answered, "No, and there's no medical treatment to extend her time."

Botan suddenly perked up as a thought occurred to her. "Why not just wait until she dies and give her an egg like you did with Yusuke? She'll be revived healthy!"

"That would work if I had another egg," Koenma said sadly. "Those eggs are very rare, and it was pure luck that we had one when Yusuke died. There's no telling when another one will show up."

Kurama listened absently as Koenma and Botan tried to come up with a viable option regarding Kagome's condition and status. He was trying to think of something on his own. It wasn't until he heard one of the pair by the desk mention inducing sleep that an idea hit him. "Sir," Kurama interrupted the demigod and his reaper. "I believe I might have a way to, at the very least, extend Kagome's life."

"What is it?" Koenma asked as he focused all of his attention on redheaded detective.

"Kagome only needs to sleep deeply enough to dream," Kurama said simply. "Dreaming takes place in the deepest level of a human's sleep cycle. Aside from the body getting the rest that it needs, it allows the mind a way to almost cleanse itself. If I'm able to induce sleep, Hiei should be able to force her mind into a deeper state of sleep. If we're able to do this every night, it should prolong her life long enough to come up with a solution of what to do with the jewel. She may even begin to recover some and be able to tell us more about it. Botan said that your files on the jewel were incomplete."

"Do you think Hiei would go along with it?" Botan asked.

"I'm not sure," Kurama answered honestly. "He may need to be ordered," he continued as he looked at Koenma.

"Hiei's sentence was much longer than anyone else on the team, so he's the only one that I can still technically order to do anything," Koenma mused.

"But you've given him mostly free reign for quite a while now," Kurama pointed out. "He won't be happy to be given an order again."

Koenma nodded and was silent for a moment. "We'll just have to ask him and hope that it doesn't come to giving orders."


	4. Chapter Four

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Four

The large office was mostly silent as Kurama and Koenma awaited Botan's return. As Koenma continued his never-ending paperwork, Kurama read over the files that Botan had brought pertaining to the Jewel of Four Souls. Many names were mentioned specifically; a monk called Miroku, a demon slayer named Sango, a young fox demon named Shippou, and many more. But none of the references to Kagome listed her by name. She was simply 'the priestess.'

"It's strange," Kurama mused.

"What's strange?" Koenma asked absently without pausing in his work.

"Whoever gave the details to these accounts would had to have known Kagome's name. They knew the names of every other member of the group she traveled with," Kurama reasoned. "But it seems like they went out of their way to not mention her by name. Why?"

"It's impossible to know for sure," Koenma answered as he looked up from his many papers. "We can't even see if anyone who gave us details is still alive. Those records have long been lost. Record keeping in those days was subpar at best."

Kurama was about to ask if the records were merely lost or actually destroyed when the office doors opened. Botan walked in wearing a fierce blush and was followed by a smirking Hiei. Laughing a little at the sight, Kurama asked, "What happened?"

Botan looked everywhere in the office but Hiei as she answered, "When I went to get Hiei for the meeting I...I may have walked in on him when he was...less than decent."

Kurama and Koenma both looked at Hiei curiously for confirmation, and the demon only smirked wider as he elaborated, "I'd been training with Mukuro and was preparing for a bath. She didn't knock."

Koenma blushed along with Botan while Kurama attempted to his his chuckles by coughing into his hand. "So," Hiei began. "Why am I here?"

"We need your help with something," Kurama said. He knew that convincing Hiei would be difficult, but he was really hoping that he could get Hiei to agree without resorting to force.

Hiei took several steps closer to Koenma's desk but didn't sit down. Looking down at where Kurama sat, he asked, "What?"

"There's a human woman who needs our help," Kurama began to explain, but was swiftly cut off.

"No," Hiei answered flatly.

"She'll die without our help," Kurama tried to reason with his friend.

"Humans die all the time, Kurama. It isn't my problem," Hiei argued.

"Hiei, this woman is important. She's not supposed to die, so we have to try to keep her alive for at least a little longer," Kurama said as he stood up and used his height advantage to look down at his friend. He knew that he would never intimidate Hiei, but he would use every advantage that he could get.

Hiei glared up at Kurama. "Why should I care?" He asked.

Finally using his last tactic of appealing to Hiei's curiosity, Kurama announced, "She's the guardian of the Jewel of Four Souls. Surely you've heard the stories about it."

Hiei's eyebrows rose marginally before he said, "That makes her interesting, but she's still not my problem."

Kurama was about to try arguing his case some more, but Koenma beat him to the punch. "Hiei," the demigod called to grab the demon's attention. Giving the black-clad demon a stern look, he pressed, "You should listen to Kurama."

It was in that moment that Hiei realized that he'd been set up. He glared fiercely at his boss before turning his burning eyes onto Kurama. They were trying to get him to agree on his own, but he now knew that he'd never had any choice in the matter. Despite tightening his hands into fists, he wiped his expression to a neutral slate. "What's wrong with the woman, and how am I expected to help?" He finally questioned.

Kurama gave Hiei an apologetic look before he began his explanation. "We need you to use your Jagan eye to help her sleep."

* * *

Kurama lead Hiei and Botan to the Higurashi's door and took a deep breath as he knocked. He really hoped that Kagome's family received his proposal well.

It didn't take long for the door to be opened, and they were greeted by the smiling, if tired, face of Risa Higurashi. "Shuichi!" She enthused. "I wasn't expecting to see you today. You're becoming a regular guest." It was then that she looked over his shoulder and saw the two others with him. Slightly confused, she maintained her smile as she asked, "You brought guests?"

Bowing deeper than usual, Kurama spoke, "I'm very sorry for dropping by unannounced with additional guests, but I'm hoping that our reason for being here will make up for any intrusion."

"Shuichi?" Risa asked a little more unsure than before.

"Please call me Kurama," he said as gently as he could. He wanted them to be on the same level before he continued with introductions, but the last thing that he wanted was to scare the poor woman. Though as he watched Risa back away from him a little, he was afraid that his plan had backfired. He was about to try to stop her retreat when a familiar voice called out from deeper in the house.

"Mrs. Higurashi," the voice called as the owner drew closer. "I wrote down all of my contact information on this card just in case you...Kurama?"

"Keiko?" Kurama asked as he spotted his friend's wife walking into the Higurashi kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"My organization approved the Higurashi's case, but I was the only nurse available for these night shifts," Keiko explained. "Why are you here?"

Kurama opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Kagome's mother. "Stop!" She shouted as her nerves began to fray. "I want some answers!" Turning to Keiko she questioned, "You knew that his name wasn't really Shuichi?"

Keiko floundered at the unexpected question, "I...I, um..."

"And you," Risa bit out as she rounded on Kurama. "I let you into my home, around my children, because I trusted you. What else have you lied about?"

Before Kurama could answer, his calvary arrived. "Mom?" Souta asked as he too entered the kitchen. "What's with all the shouting?"

"Souta!" Risa called as she spotted her son. "Go check on your sister and stay with her while I sort this out."

Seeing the state that his mother was in, Souta ignored her instructions and moved to her side instead. "I just checked on Kagome. She's fine and watching a movie. Now what's going on?"

"He's not who he says he is, Souta," Risa warned her youngest as she pinned Kurama with a sharp look.

Souta looked up at Kurama before wrapping his mother in a tight hug. Sighing, he said, "I know, Mom. I found out about him the other day when we were talking in the kitchen."

Risa pulled away from her son to look him in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me?" She questioned, her voice bordering on shrill.

"Mom," Souta said as he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "You've been so tired from taking care of Kagome that I didn't want to worry you. And judging by how you reacted just now, it looks like I was right."

Risa dropped her eyes to the floor. Somewhere along the way both of her children had grown up so much. All she wanted to do was protect them, but here was her baby boy trying to protect her instead.

"Kurama is a good guy," Souta continued. "After talking to him some, I think he wants to try to help Kagome." He smiled when his mother looked back up at him. She still seemed stressed, but she did seem much more calm. "Why don't you go check on Kagome one more time to make sure she doesn't need anything, and then come back into the kitchen? We can talk everything out. Maybe Kurama has some good news about Kagome."

Risa stared at her son before glancing towards Kurama and his friends. She would go along with the plan for the moment, but when they were alone she and Souta were going to have a serious talk about keeping secrets from one's mother.

Souta watched his mother leave the room before inviting Kurama and the others into the house. "Have a seat at the table and we'll wait for Mom to get back," he said as he pulled a couple of extra chairs from a small corner.

"You seem to take situations like this in great stride," Kurama commented as Souta gestured for Keiko to have a seat.

"Yeah, I guess," Souta laughed before taking a seat for himself. "But I guess I got used to it growing up with Kagome. After she started going to the past, there was no telling what might show up next. First that centipede woman grabbed Kagome, then a dog-eared boy came barging into the house, and if you throw in the few other demons that popped up along the way, I just adapted."

Once Kurama finally got Hiei to sit down, he responded, "Trust me when I say that's a trait that will come in very handy during your life."

"Oh, I can believe it," Souta said as he watched the two people in the room that he'd yet to meet. "So who are you guys?"

"Ah yes," Kurama said as he remembered that introductions hadn't been made yet. "These are friends of mine, Botan and Hiei. I believe that Hiei and I might be able to help your sister."

"You mean you can cure her?" Souta asked hopefully as he sat up straight.

Kurama hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "I doubt that we'll be able to do that, but I believe that we could possibly extend her life for a while."

Souta frowned and eyed Kurama's calm face. "Don't get me wrong, I would love to have Kagome around for as long as possible, but if you can't cure her then what's the point? You're just going to draw things out. Why?"

"You know that your sister protects a very powerful item," Kurama began to explain. "I asked you this the other day, but what do you think will happen to it when she's gone? Who is going to keep it out of the wrong hands?"

"I don't know," Souta answered honestly. "I remember Sis would come home covered in bruises and scrapes. She cracked more than one rib. So even though she never really talked about it, I know how hard she had to fight. I know what kind of danger that thing can attract. She was meant to guard it. I don't know if there's anyone else who _could_ do it."

"None of us know either," Kurama agreed. "That's why we have to keep her alive for as long as possible. We need a plan to deal with the jewel once its guardian is gone."

"It's always about that damn jewel," Souta muttered under his breath.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked having heard what the boy said.

"It's always about the jewel," Souta repeated louder. "It's never about Kagome. Everyone always wants to take care of the jewel. Kagome's just protected by association." He paused for a moment to reign in his temper before it ran away with him. "But thanks," he continued.

"For what?" Kurama asked curiously.

"For not sugar-coating it," Souta answered. "You may not be doing this for Kagome, but at least you're honest about it. And no matter why you're doing it, I'm glad that you're going to try to help her."

Kurama smiled and nodded at the teen. He didn't have much interaction with humans Souta's age, but he'd be willing to bet that the young man before him was much more mature than his peers.

"Okay," Risa said as she entered the kitchen once more. Sitting beside her son, she said, "Kagome is fine. Grandpa is going to sit with her while we talk." She turned to look at Kurama seriously as she said, "But before we talk about anything else, I want to know who you really are."

"That's fair enough," Kurama acquiesced. "I didn't lie to you when I introduced myself as Shuichi Minamino. It's the name that my human mother gave me, and it's the name that I use in human company."

"Human mother?" Risa questioned. "Human company? Are you…" She paused. "Are you a demon?"

"Yes," Kurama answered honestly. "And no," he added after another moment's thought. "I suppose you could say that my state of being is complicated. And, for full disclosure, Hiei here is also a demon. Botan isn't a demon, but she isn't a human either."

"Botan, is it?" Risa asked as she turned to look at the blue-haired young woman. "If you aren't a human or a demon, what are you? If you don't mind my asking, of course."

"Not at all," Botan replied with a chipper smile. "I suppose "reaper" is the simplest term for it, but it's my job to guide the souls of the deceased to Spirit World. I don't actually kill anyone like people tend to think."

"Well that's different," Souta commented. "I think we've only ever had humans and demons in this house."

Risa shushed her son. She didn't feel like joking at the moment. Meeting Keiko's eyes, she asked, "And you knew about this? Do you know all of them?"

"Yes, I knew," Keiko admitted. "And I know Kurama, Hiei, and Botan. They all worked with my husband when they were younger. They were-and still are to an extent-part of a detective team employed by Spirit World." As she watched Risa take in the information being given to her, she added, "I know that you probably feel a betrayal of trust right now, but I promise that we didn't lie to you out of malice. We have to be careful about who we tell. But they're good people. If they say that they can help Kagome, I really recommend at least hearing them out."

"And you?" Risa questioned tiredly. "Are you a demon too?"

Keiko laughed lightly, "No, no, no. I'm as human as they come."

Risa released a shuddering sigh before she began to nod. "Okay," she said. "It's been such a long time since anyone brought up demons that it almost felt like I had dreamed all of it up." Looking to Kurama once again, she asked, "Do you really think that you can help my daughter?"

"I do," Kurama answered. "And we're certainly going to try."

"What is it that you want to try?" Risa asked warily. If it sounded like anything that could even potentially hurt her daughter, she would put a stop to it.

Kurama was aware that Risa was wary of him now. Her top priority would be to protect her daughter from anything and any_one_ that she deemed a danger. "I believe that we can induce sleep-"

"No," Risa interrupted him.

"Mom," Souta chastised. "You didn't even hear what he had to say."

"The doctors said that it could make her worse, Souta. It could make her progress through the stages quicker. Do you really want to risk losing her even sooner?" Risa questioned her son.

Souta was quiet for several seconds before replying, "Yes."

"Souta!" Risa jerked upright in shock. "Why?"

Souta reached for his mother's hand and squeezed gently. "It might make her worse," Souta admitted. He saw his mother about to speak again, but quickly cut her off. "But it might make her better. And what if it does make her worse? No matter what anyone does, she's dying. I don't want to lose her anymore than you do, but if there's even a chance that they could help her, I think it's worth risking the loss of a couple of months."

"But she's my baby girl," Risa said softly. Squeezing Souta's hand in return, tears began to gather in her eyes. "I don't want to lose her any sooner than necessary."

"I know, Mom," Souta tried to comfort. "But even if they don't do anything, she has another few months at most before she won't even be able to talk anymore. Even if she does make it to her birthday, she won't know it. The way I see it, they're either going to be able to help her, or they're going to shorten the time that she has to suffer."

Risa sat in silence for a moment as she thought over Souta's words. Everyone knew that whether they proceeded or not would depend on her permission. When she finally looked back to Kurama, she said, "What are you going to do to her?"

Smiling at the question, Kurama answered, "I'll put her to sleep using a more natural method than medication. I'm hoping that it will help lessen any adverse effects that Kagome may experience. Once she's asleep, Hiei will use his abilities to push her mind into a deeper level of sleep where, hopefully, she'll be able to truly rest and maybe dream."

"I don't think I understand," Risa said as she shook her head. "I mean, I understand what you said, but how are you going to do that? Does it have to do with being demons?"

"Yes," Kurama said simply. "It's because we're demons. The demonic part of myself gives me a certain control over plant life, including demonic plant life. There are several species that are able to put people to sleep, and I've chosen one in particular that won't harm Kagome in any other way. Hiei has telepathic abilities. He should be able to keep Kagome's mind at rest long enough for her to actually sleep."

"When would you want to start?" Risa asked.

"As soon as possible," Kurama said. "Today, if we can."

Risa sighed. She was still unsure about the whole thing, but if could give her daughter a chance, she would risk it. "Kagome is fairly lucid today. If she says that she would be willing to start today, then I'll allow it."

"Where is she?" Kurama asked as he stood smoothly.

"She's in the living room," Souta answered. "I'll go with you."

Kurama gestured for Hiei to follow them, and the trio made their way to the small living room. As they entered the room, Kagome looked up at them. She had been listening to the television and coloring some sheets on a small lap desk. Their grandfather appeared to have fallen asleep in his chair while watching the movie. Souta nodded him forward, and Kurama walked to sit on the opposite end of the couch that Kagome was on.

"Hello, Kagome," Kurama said gently. "Do you remember me?"

Kagome studied him with a look of concentration and frustration before she finally relaxed and said, "Minamino, right?"

"Yes," Kurama smiled. "But you can call me Kurama. Kagome, my friend and I are here to help you."

"How?" She asked as she went back to coloring a sheet filled with a geometric pattern.

"We're going to help you sleep," he answered.

Kagome's hand jerked so suddenly that her colored pencil left a vibrant line across the page, ruining the picture. When she looked up at him, Kurama was almost a little startled. It was the most alert he had ever seen her. "Don't joke like that," she bit out. "Can you really do that?"

Kurama noticed that her speech was still a little slow and slurred in places, but he knew that she understood him. "Your brother told me that you're a priestess. Do you know what we are?" He asked as he gestured to Hiei and himself.

Kagome gave him an irritable look as she held up one shaky hand. As it began to glow with a very faint pink light, she said, "I may be weak, but I could feel you in the other room. You're both demons."

"Scared?" Hiei spoke for the first time since entering the Higurashi home.

"Hardly," Kagome said as she shot him a small glare.

"Good," Kurama cut back in. "Because we're going to need you to trust us. We believe that we can help you sleep again. You won't be able to do it on your own though, so we'll need to be there."

Kagome glanced over Kurama's shoulder to look at Souta. "He's not joking, Kagome," Souta reassured. "You can trust them."

"You'll really be able to make me sleep?" Kagome asked Kurama with a cautious but hopeful look.

"We're going to do our best, but we won't know until we try," Kurama told her.

Kagome nodded emphatically. "Please," she said as she closed her eyes. "I don't even care how. I'm just so tired."

Souta walked over to put an arm around his sister as tears began to gather in her eyelashes. "Are you ready to try now, or do you want to wait until another time?" Souta asked.

"Now, please," Kagome sniffled as she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve.

"Okay then, come on," Souta urged as he helped her move her lap desk and stand up. Turning to face Kurama, he said, "I'll help her get up to her room and into bed. Could you let Mom know that you're going to try this now?"

"Of course," Kurama said as he stood. As they were exiting the living room, he turned to Hiei and said, "You go with them while I let Kagome's mother know what's happening. She'll likely want to be there."

Hiei rolled his eyes, but followed after the woman and her brother. As he watched them, he realized just how frail the young woman looked. Next to her brother, who was obviously some sort of athlete, the woman appeared far too thin, bordering on emaciated. The trek up the stairs was slow as she took them one at a time, and Hiei found himself wishing that the brother would just pick her up and carry her already.

When they reached Kagome's room, Hiei had to keep himself from sneering at all of the pink. It was like stepping into a child's cottoncandy-colored dream. As Souta tucked his sister into bed, Hiei crossed the room and took a seat in the floor beneath the only window. Souta announced that he was stepping out of the room for a moment to get his desk chair and a book from his room, leaving the priestess and demon alone together.

"What's your name?" Kagome asked tiredly.

"Hn," was Hiei's only reply.

"Great," Kagome drawled. "You're one of _those_."

"One of _what_?" Hiei snapped.

"The "strong and silent" type," she answered complete with air quotes. "Emphasis on the silent." When he didn't respond to her comment, she continued, "You don't want to be here, do you?" Again, she received no answer. "That's fine, I can talk enough for the both of us."

Hiei inwardly cringed, but felt a wave of relief when Souta entered the room once more followed by Kurama, Kagome's mother, Botan, and Keiko. The small room was suddenly very cramped. Souta sat in the chair he'd brought while Kurama and Risa sat on the edge of Kagome's bed and Botan and Keiko stood.

Kurama pulled a small seed from underneath his hair and held it in his palm. Slowly, a tiny sprig of green grew from the brown shell. As it grew, tiny leaves began to sprout until finally a large red flower bud appeared. As the crimson petals unfurled, Kurama spoke, "This is a flower from Demon World. Its pollen is known to instantly knock out whoever inhales it. I'm going to blow some into your face, and all you need to do is take a deep breath at the same time. You'll be asleep before you know what's happening. Does that sound okay?" When Kagome nodded, he smiled and continued, "Then I'm going to countdown from three."

"Okay," Kagome said as she readied herself.

"Three…" Kurama counted as he lowered the flower closer to Kagome's face.

"Two…" He said as Kagome closed her eyes and exhaled.

"One," Kurama finally reached before blowing a small cloud of pollen into Kagome's face. Everyone heard her inhale, and then there was silence. As the tension melted out of her body, Kurama allowed the flower to wither and die before reaching over to check on Kagome. He gently lifted one eyelid and saw that her pupils were dilated. Checking her breathing and pulse, he assured her family that both were strong and steady.

"Hiei," Kurama called. "The rest is up to you."

Hiei grunted before reaching up to untie the bandana around his head. Everyone watched as a third eye in the middle of Hiei's forehead slowly opened and blinked several times.

"Woah," Souta breathed. When the Jagan locked onto him, he visibly drew back away from it.

Taking a deep breath, Hiei closed his natural eyes and used the Jagan to get to work. He entered Kagome's mind and began pulling her down into a deeper and deeper state of sleep.

"Okay," Kurama said as he stood up from the bed. "They should both be out for several hours."

"Thank you," Risa said quietly as she gently brushed away some of Kagome's hair.

"Of course," Kurama smiled. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to stay until Kagome wakes up, just to make sure that everything went well."

"I don't have a problem with that," Risa assured. "But won't you be bored?"

"You can use Kagome's laptop," Souta said as he pointed to the mostly unused computer on his sister's desk. "I know the password."

Kurama nodded his head in thanks before he heard Botan clear her throat.

"What should we do now?" The ferry girl asked as she gestured to Keiko and herself.

"Botan, you should probably check in with Koenma and let him know that things are going well so far. I brought my communicator with me, so I'll let you know when Kagome wakes up," Kurama answered. When Botan nodded and vanished, he turned to Keiko. "And I think we have things covered for tonight if you'd like to go home," he told her. "Spend some time with Yusuke. Better yet, make him take you out to dinner."

Keiko laughed as she said, "That actually sounds like a great plan. Are you sure you have things covered though?"

"We'll be fine," Kurama reassured. "If we need you, I'll be sure to call."

"Okay," Keiko said as she gave in. "I'll see you all later. Be sure to call me if you need anything!"

Kurama watched Keiko leave before sitting down at Kagome's desk and settling in for the evening.

The hours passed and the Higurashi's mostly went about their usual nighttime routine. Risa went downstairs to make dinner. Kurama ate with the family and finally met the Higurashi patriarch. They all gathered in Kagome's room as they told stories, got to know each other, and watched for any change in Kagome or Hiei. Grandpa Higurashi eventually went to bed, and Risa sent Souta to bed saying that he had school in the morning.

Kurama and Risa stayed with Kagome and Hiei through the night. Risa curled up next to her daughter and got some sleep, but Kurama opted to stay up all night. There were no fluctuations in either Kagome's or Hiei's power, and they both appeared to sleep peacefully through the night.

As morning broke, Risa left her daughter's side to make breakfast for her family. Kurama watched as she sent Souta off to school and made sure that her father-in-law was bundled up for the increasingly colder weather as he tended to his shrine duties. It was when he and Risa were having coffee in the kitchen that they heard a shrill scream come from upstairs.

They both rushed to Kagome's room, but Kurama made it to the door first. He ran in to see Kagome sitting up in bed, wide-eyed and panting lightly. Looking to Hiei for any indication as to what had happened, Kurama only saw Hiei calmly tying his bandana back around his head.

Risa rushed past Kurama to sit next to Kagome on the bed. She looked her daughter over for any obvious injuries before pulling her into a fierce hug. "You scared me half to death," she breathed. Finally pulling Kagome away to hold her at arm's length, she asked, "What in the world happened?"

Shakily, Kagome answered, "I had a nightmare."

"Oh, baby," Risa cooed as she pulled Kagome in for another tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

Kagome's shoulders began to shake as she shook her head and pulled away from her mother. "No," she corrected through tears and hiccups. "I was actually asleep. I had a dream. It was the best nightmare _ever_." Torn between fright and relief, Kagome began to laugh and cry at the same time. Risa did her best to console her daughter until she calmed down enough to speak again. Kagome looked up and smiled at Kurama before turning her attention to Hiei. "Thank you," she said simply, but the look of gratitude in her eyes spoke volumes more than her words.

Hiei frowned at first feeling slightly uncomfortable, but he eventually sighed and nodded once in acknowledgement.


	5. Chapter Five

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Five

The sun had already gone down as Hiei slid open Kagome's bedroom window. His movements were soundless as he stepped onto the plush pink carpet and gently closed the window. Looking around, he saw that the room's occupant was missing...again.

_'She's never ready for bed on time,'_ Hiei thought with a small growl. Determined to find the woman who had been forced into his daily routine, he headed for the door to begin his search.

Almost as soon as he was in the hallway, Hiei heard the rolling wheels of Souta's computer chair before the teen's bedroom door opened. "Hey, Hiei," Souta greeted with a small wave. "Mom saved you some dinner downstairs."

As was becoming usual, Hiei didn't answer the boy but only gave a short nod before continuing on his way. He'd been coming to the Higurashi home every night for a little more than weeks, and the family had gradually worked him into their regular lives. He'd never wanted to be a part of their lives. He'd even tried to discourage them for a while. But despite his less-than-friendly disposition and the fact that he rarely spoke to any of them, they had all found a rhythm around his evening visits.

While his days were spent patrolling the border between the two worlds, he would arrive at the Higurashi home sometime after the sun had set. Within only a couple of days of this, Risa had begun to set aside an extra plate of food just for him. He had refused the offer for about a week, but it turned out that the woman was a damn good cook; not that he would ever tell her. Even the old man had stopped trying to purify him, but they still avoided each other.

But then there was Kagome. The first week or so of dealing with her hadn't been all that bad. She was weak and was often too tired to argue with him when he ordered her to bed. But it was amazing what a few weeks of good rest could do. Now that she was gaining her strength back she had started showing an annoying willful streak. It turned out that she was naturally stubborn and didn't like to be ordered around.

Sometimes it seemed like she enjoyed making him angry. They constantly butted heads, and on a couple of occasions he'd been forced to pick her up and put her in bed himself. When they had first started this arrangement she had begged for sleep. Now she fought him every almost every step of the way.

Hiei entered the kitchen and saw that it was only occupied by Risa. She was washing the dishes from their dinner, but she turned to greet him when she caught his reflection in the window above the sink. "Oh, good evening, Hiei!" She smiled at him as she turned off the water and dried her hands. "Are you hungry?"

Answering in his usual silent fashion, Hiei removed his sword from his hip and leaned it against the edge of the table before taking a seat. He watched as Risa turned off the hotplate keeping his food warm before setting the evening's dish before him along with some chopsticks. Without needing to ask, she took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with ice water. Hiei ate silently as she went back to washing the few remaining dishes.

"Kagome is taking a bath," Risa eventually provided. "She spent most of the day helping her grandfather with chores around the shrine, so she should be ready to go to bed by the time she gets out."

Hiei made a small grunting noise to acknowledge what she'd said, and continued with his meal. He watched Risa as she finished washing the last dish and began drying them to be put away. He would rather die than admit it, but part of him had come to enjoy watching the little things that this family did and how they interacted with each other. The closest thing he'd had to a family while growing up was a group of bandits, and they hadn't exactly been familial to each other. His life had always been blood and violence and power. The normalcy of the Higurashi's was definitely a change of pace, and it was somewhat refreshing. Even though he was sure there were differences between human and demon families, it made him wonder what kind of life he could have had if he'd been raised with his family instead of thrown off of a cliff.

The thought of his stolen childhood brought up a bitterness that he tried to keep buried. His grip tightened on his chopsticks, and he had to put them down before he broke them. Hiei had just picked up his drink when Souta came trotting into the kitchen. The teen crossed over the the refrigerator and looked around inside before finding what he'd come downstairs for.

"Souta Higurashi," Risa chastised without turning around. "You put that soda back. It's too late for you to have caffeine when you have school in the morning."

Souta sighed as he put the can back and grabbed a bottle of apple juice instead. Sitting down at the table with Hiei, he asked, "So are there any demons that can see behind them or is that just a mom thing?"

Hiei picked up his chopsticks again before he answered, "I can."

"Really?" Souta asked before he started laughing. "Because I was totally joking, but that's pretty cool! Do you have more eyes back there or something?" He asked as he leaned around to examine the back of Hiei's head.

Hiei watched the boy and smirked slightly as he said, "Sometimes." Out of the family, Hiei liked the youngest Higurashi the most. Not only did he often help convince his sister to cooperate and go to bed, but he was observant and intelligent for a human. He usually thought several steps ahead. It suddenly dawned on him that these were the same traits that he admired in Kurama. If the boy ever showed himself capable of becoming a ruthless killer in battle, Kurama might just have some competition as Hiei's best friend.

He could smell her before he saw her. The apple-scented shampoo that she used wafted into the room just as he heard her bare feet pad against the kitchen's tiled floor. "Hi, Hiei," Kagome greeted as she, much like her brother, went to the refrigerator.

_'I wonder if this could be a learned behavior on the boy's part,'_ Hiei thought as he watched Kagome rummage.

"Aha!" Kagome cheered as she came away with her prize. Grabbing a spoon, she sat down at the table with her brother and Hiei before she opened her blueberry yogurt.

It hadn't escaped Hiei's notice that she'd started to gain back some of her weight. She didn't look nearly as bony as when he'd first seen her, but she was still very thin and lacked any real muscle mass. He continued eating as he examined her snack choice. The label said that it was "low fat." _'She complains about being too thin, yet she eats food that won't help her gain weight,'_ he thought with a mental eyeroll.

"So," Kagome started as she caught Hiei's gaze. "How was your day? Actually, what do you do during the day?"

"It's unimportant," Hiei answered as he finished his meal. "Finish your food and prepare for bed."

Kagome glared at the demon before dropping her spoon into her yogurt cup and standing up. "You know, I think there was a special coming on TV tonight that I wanted to watch. I'm going to see if I can find it." With that, Kagome marched out of the kitchen and towards their living room.

As Hiei glared at Kagome's retreating back, Souta laughed. Turning back around, he noticed that Risa was also trying to hide a smile as she took his plate to the sink. "I can't believe you haven't figured her out by now," Souta remarked. When Hiei glared at him, he continued, "She's trying to be your friend."

"Why?" Hiei asked.

Souta shrugged. "That's how she is with everyone. And most people are happy to go along with it and be her friend. But you're not responding to her, so she's fighting you in the only way she knows how; passive-aggressively," he explained.

Hiei stared at the boy in silence. There was no way that she was making him miserable because he wouldn't be her _friend_.

"Now that I think about it," Souta added. "She probably doesn't even realize what she's doing. This is almost exactly how she and Inuyasha fought, only with less yelling. It's a conditioned behavior!" Souta began laughing again but eventually calmed down enough to say, "Look, she's my sister so I'm biased, but as far as friends go, Kagome is pretty great. If you just make even a little bit of an effort and giver her what she wants, I'd be willing to bet that your life would get much easier where she's concerned."

"Friends?" Hiei asked skeptically. He had never wanted the friends that he currently had. They had just sort of happened. He certainly wasn't looking to make any new friends.

"Okay, look," Souta said as he turned in his chair to fully face Hiei. "Before she left, she asked you what you do during the day. Go give her an answer instead of an order, and see what she does. If it doesn't work, just go back to what you've been doing."

Hiei was hesitant, but he figured that he didn't have anything to lose (accept for a little pride) by taking Souta's advice. Standing and picking up his sword, he made his way towards the living room. When he stepped through the threshold, he saw Kagome seated on the couch flipping through channels. He walked to the couch and perched himself on the arm at the opposite end from Kagome. The room was quiet except for the TV and neither of them looked at the other. Finally, Hiei spoke, "I patrol the border between Human World and Demon World during the day."

Kagome turned her head sharply to look at Hiei. He wasn't looking at her, but she was certain he had spoken. She had tried to get him to open up to her for weeks, and now that he finally had, she was at a loss of what to say next. Turning the volume down on the TV, she carefully started, "Um...did anything exciting happen?"

"No," Hiei answered. He wasn't exactly practiced in the art of small talk, and he was unsure if he would be required to say more on the subject. But he felt a small amount of relief when he glanced over to Kagome and saw her smiling at him brightly. Without a word she turned off the TV, stood with her empty yogurt cup and spoon, and took several steps closer to him.

"I'm actually pretty tired from helping Grandpa today," she told him. "I'm sure I can find that special as a rerun later. Let me go throw this away, and I'll meet you upstairs." Smiling, Kagome left a stunned Hiei in the living room as she made her way to the kitchen.

"You look happy," Souta said as she passed by him to place her spoon in the sink.

"I am," Kagome replied with a bright smile.

As Kagome told their mother goodnight, Souta stood and left the kitchen. He made his way upstairs and stopped by Kagome's room to see Hiei waiting for his sister. Hiei didn't say anything to him, but Souta gave him a knowing smile before saying, "You're welcome."

Hiei gave the smug boy a small glare as the teen retreated to his own bedroom for the evening. It wasn't long before Kagome walked into her bedroom with a bounce in her step. She had changed into her pajamas after her bath, so she simply slipped under her covers and waited for Hiei to complete his part of their routine.

Hiei stepped to Kagome's nightstand and lifted the glass dome that sat over the potted flower that Kurama had grown for them. They had to keep it under glass so that it wouldn't release its pollen into the house. When he had first dropped it off, Kurama had told them that the flower would be able to feed off of Hiei's demonic energy just by him being close. The flower appeared to be thriving and Hiei never felt any effects from it, so he rarely gave the red flower more than a passing thought.

Placing the flower close to Kagome's face, Hiei blew on it and Kagome inhaled. She was out like a light before he even placed the flower back on the table. Hiei covered the blossom once more before he took his usual seat beneath the window and removed his bandana. He left the Jagan open as he closed his eyes and entered Kagome's mind.

It was dark and quiet. He could feel Kagome's mind hovering just beneath consciousness and reached out to take hold of it. Doing anything inside a person's mind without doing damage was a delicate procedure. Even if he wasn't physically touching her, if he was too rough he could disrupt her brain's function. It could do anything from drive her insane, to make her never regain consciousness, or even kill her. The last thing that he needed was Koenma on his back over an accident, so he was sure to use the utmost care with Kagome's mind.

It was difficult, if not impossible, to tell time when he was doing these sessions. Kagome's mind wanted to sleep and dream. It's what it was naturally programmed to do. All his really did was help it do what it was meant to do. When she fell asleep he could feel her mind struggling to go deeper, and he lent his assistance. There were pauses between the different sleep cycles, and he would wait and keep her mind in place. When it was time to go deeper, it was something he just felt and would assist with.

He could always tell when she started dreaming though. The dark and silence persisted, but Kagome's mind became much more active. To Hiei, it felt like there was something vibrating in the darkness just beyond him. In all these sessions, he had never looked in on her dreams, but this night his curiosity was beginning to get to him. Several sleep cycles and dreams passed by before he felt a particularly large vibration wave, and he made up his mind.

Hiei envisioned a door in the darkness. Using the simple wooden door, he entered Kagome's dream.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't what he found. He had stepped into a thick forest. Judging by how little light there was, Hiei assumed that it was nighttime in her dream as well as reality. His ears picked up a noise, and it didn't take long for him to decipher it as the sounds of battle. His interest definitely piqued, Hiei worked his way through the trees towards the sounds.

The sight that greeted him was that of a bloody battlefield. Trees were broken and splintered all through the clearing, and pieces of low-level demons littered the ground. And there, surrounded by gore and chaos, was Kagome. She was standing tall despite the tremor that he could see travel through the bow and arrow that she held. It looked as though she was about to fire when the surroundings began to slow until everything eventually stopped.

The only movement in the field came from Kagome as she turned around to face him. This Kagome was much younger than the Kagome that he knew. Her eyes were still wide and innocent and filled with a fear that she was trying to hide. She stared at him for several long moments before her brow furrowed and she said, "I know you."

Hiei watched as the girl grew into the woman he knew to be in bed, pajamas and all. "Hiei?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

Glancing around the battlefield again, Hiei said, "I've been wondering what such a supposedly pure priestess dreams about. I never would have thought that your dreams would be as bloody as mine."

Kagome looked around the battlefield and shook her head. "This isn't a dream," she told him. She slowly stepped towards him and the younger version of herself remained behind, bow and arrow raised in battle, frozen with the rest of the scene. "This is a memory," Kagome corrected as she reached Hiei's side and time resumed around them.

There was silence between them for a moment before Kagome spoke again. "I never realized how horrible these battles were. I guess I just blocked it out."

Hiei hummed as he watched the younger Kagome unleash an arrow that left a trail of blinding light.

"And I remember this fight," she continued. "This wasn't even the worst battle we had. I doubt it cracks the top ten."

Unlike their exchange before bed, fighting and battles was something that Hiei had experience in. "If the legends about the jewel are true, you were in the middle of a war. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a minor skirmish."

Kagome laughed a little, but there was little joy behind it. She turned to look at Hiei as she said, "I don't know what the legends say, but it was definitely a war. I didn't realize it at the time though."

The next thing either of them knew, a weakened tree was coming down on top of them and they were awake once more in Kagome's bedroom. Morning light was already streaming in through the window.

Kagome sat up and placed a hand over her racing heart as she waited for it to calm down.

Hiei retied his bandana quietly before standing to check on Kagome. She pushed the covers off of her legs and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. When she looked up at him, he noticed just how much older and wiser her eyes were than those of who she had been. This was a woman who had seen battles and death.

"Please don't tell my family what you saw," she requested softly as her eyes pleaded with him.

Hiei nodded once in answer and watched her get up and leave the room to start her day.

This was a woman who had seen battles and death and kept it to herself.


	6. Chapter Six

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Six

Kagome looked at herself in the mirror. A giddy smile spread across her face as she turned this way and that. She ran her hands down her sides and released a happy sigh. "It's nice to see you again Mr. Waistline. I've missed you very much," she said. When she finally stopped admiring her returning figure, she grabbed a hair tie and began to pull her hair up into a ponytail.

"Kagome!" Souta yelled as he banged his fist against the bathroom door. "Quit hogging the bathroom! Some of us actually _need_ it," he called from the hallway.

"Give me just a minute!" She yelled back. It was the first time she was leaving the house in weeks, and she wanted it to be perfect. A little eyeliner, a coat of mascara, and a touch of gloss later, Kagome opened the door to find Souta leaning against the wall waiting on her. "There," she said as she stepped to the side. "It's all yours."

"Took you long enough," Souta grumbled as he entered gratefully. Pausing before he shut the door, he stuck his head back in the hall and asked, "Why is your waistline a dude?"

Kagome shrugged. "He just is, and I'll never take him for granted again," she answered.

Making her way downstairs, Kagome flounced into the kitchen and gave a small twirl. "Ta-da!" She sang happily. She looked to her mother and grandfather to see what they thought of her look. She was finally able to fit into her old clothes without looking like she was swimming in them, and she was determined to wear her favorite sundress, weather be damned. It had taken some mixing and matching, but she'd eventually made the dress cold weather friendly by throwing in a cardigan, some tights, and a pair of boots. "Well, what do you guys think?" She asked when nobody said anything.

Risa stood from the table to examine her daughter more closely. She turned Kagome one way and then the other before she smiled and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "It's so wonderful to see you like this again," she whispered. Pulling away to look at Kagome again, she added, "It's almost like it was all just a bad dream."

Kagome's smile saddened a little as she softly replied, "Yeah." She quickly shook herself of her melancholy though and moved to sit beside her grandfather. "What do you think Gramps? Do I look ready for a lunch out with friends?"

The eldest Higurashi smiled at his granddaughter as he reached across the table to pat the back of her hand. "You would look better in priestess robes, but this is nice too," he told her. As she laughed and leaned over to hug him, he quietly said, "It's good to see your light returning, dear."

"Thanks Grandpa," Kagome replied with one final squeeze before letting go of the older man.

When a knock was heard at the door, Kagome jumped up from her seat and grabbed her old purse that had never left its hook by the door. "I won't be gone too long," Kagome assured as she saw her mother's suddenly worried expression.

"Do you have your phone?" Risa asked. "Just in case?"

Kagome patted the pocket on her cardigan as she confirmed, "Got it! Don't worry, I'll be with Keiko. Everything will be fine!" With a final wave, Kagome slipped out the door and left her mother with a worry that she couldn't quite shake.

Outside, Kagome greeted Keiko with a quick hug. "Are we ready to go?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes," Keiko laughed as Kagome let go of her. Taking a moment to look the younger woman over, she complimented, "You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you." Word had gotten to Kurama that Kagome was trying to gain some weight. His first call had been to Keiko for advice, and she had been more than happy to lend a hand. She had several friends who were dieticians and they were able to give her some pointers on healthy weight gain. Together, they were able to map out a new diet for Kagome, and it appeared to be working.

"Thanks!" Kagome chirped. She took a breath and looked at her new friend more seriously. "Really, Keiko," Kagome said. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Keiko told her. "I'm glad I was able to help." Keiko linked her arm with Kagome's and have the younger woman a tug. "Now come on, we're going to be late for lunch."

Though Kagome no longer needed a nurse, Keiko still liked to stop by the Higurashi's shrine to check in on Kagome's progress. The two women became fast friends and were able to bond over many common interests, one of which being the life of a human with demonic friends.

"So," Keiko spoke as they reached the base of the shrine steps and took to the sidewalks. "What do you do with your days now you're actually sleeping again?"

"Not much, actually," Kagome answered with a small shrug. "I help Grandpa out with chores around the shrine, and I help Mama with some of the housework. There's just not much else that I can do right now."

"Do you ever think about going back to school?" Keiko asked.

Kagome nodded. "I would love to go back, but my future is a little uncertain right now, you know?"

Keiko saw the sad look that took over Kagome's features and felt like kicking herself. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't worry about it!" Kagome told her. "I'm just happy to be out and about."

Despite Kagome's smile, Keiko knew that the other woman felt the cloud that loomed over her. It was the most avoided topic surrounding Kagome. Though her nightly sessions with Hiei were helping her greatly, everyone knew that they couldn't continue indefinitely. They were just a temporary solution that treated the symptoms instead of the problem. It was anyone's guess as to what would happen when the sessions stopped.

Neither woman said anything for several minutes, but the silence was too much for Kagome. "So how are things with you and Yusuke?" She asked.

"They're great!" Keiko answered glad to change the topic. "I've been trying to talk him into taking a vacation, and I think I might finally be wearing him down."

"That sounds nice," Kagome commented. She paused several seconds before asking, "So do you guys ever talk about possibly starting a family?"

Keiko blushed. "We both want kids eventually, but Yusuke is still a lot like a big kid himself. We'll get there one day, but it's probably going to be a while."

"Well I'm looking forward to meeting him," Kagome laughed.

"Good," Keiko smile. "Because we're almost there," she said as she pointed to a small café with several people standing outside talking. When Kagome had mentioned wanting to get out of the house for a while, Keiko had decided to set up a lunch so that Kagome could meet Yusuke and the rest of their friends. Kagome had been so tired and disoriented when they had first met, but her true personality had started shining through once she was able to get some rest again. The woman was warm and bright and friendly and a genuine pleasure to be around. Keiko was glad that Kurama had introduced them.

As they approached the group of people outside the café, Keiko waved a few times to get their attention. "Everyone," she said as they finally reached the group, "this is Kagome." Kagome waved as everyone greeted her and Keiko continued with her introductions. "Kagome, this is Yusuke," she said as she took the man's hand and pulled him to her side. "At that's Kuwabara," she said as she pointed to a tall man with reddish-orange hair. "They run a private security company together."

Kagome looked at Yusuke and cocked her head. "Didn't you used to be some sort of delinquent?" She asked.

Yusuke laughed. "Keiko told you about that, huh? Well, that was before Spirit World got me. Kuwabara and I had all those skills from working on Koenma's team, we figured we might as well make money off of 'em."

"If you have the talent, put it to work for you," Kagome agreed. "But Keiko didn't tell me that you used to be a delinquent. Hiei told me."

Everyone turned to face Kagome with varying levels of surprise. "Hiei told you?" Kurama asked.

Kagome nodded and gave a little hum. "He actually told me a little bit about most of you."

"What did he say about me?" Kuwabara asked almost hesitantly.

"Kuwabara, right?" Kagome checked. When the man nodded, she bit her lip and hesitated a little but eventually answered, "He said that you're "an idiot who cares too much;" his words, not mine."

Yusuke barked out a short laugh before hitting his taller friend on the back. "Yeah, that sounds about like what Hiei would say about you," he teased.

"Yeah, well," Kuwabara frowned. "I'd like to see him say it to me in person!"

"You're an idiot who cares too much," a bored voice joined in.

The small group turned to find Hiei approaching them from the same direction that Kagome and Keiko had come. "Hiei!" Kagome greeted happily. "I didn't know you were coming with us today."

"Neither did I," Keiko whispered to Yusuke. Her husband shrugged in response. They had a hard time trying to get Hiei to do anything socially, so nobody expect him to be present for their lunch together.

With nobody knowing what to say, Keiko spoke again to try to break the uncomfortable silence. "Um, Kagome, you obviously already know Kurama and Hiei, and the two you still haven't met are Yukina and Shizuru," she introduced gesturing to each person in turn.

"It's nice to meet you," Kagome smiled at the two other women.

"Let's see if we can get a table inside," Keiko said as she tried to usher everyone towards the door. "It's a little too cold to sit outside."

As everyone agreed and went to move inside, Kagome turned to Hiei and smiled happily. "Come on," she urged as she stepped to follow the group.

Hiei and Kurama hung towards the back as Keiko talked to the hostess about how many people were in their group. "Well this was a surprise," Kurama commented as he looked at Hiei and raised a brow.

"Shut it, fox," Hiei bit out. Ignoring Kurama's chuckle, Hiei quickened his pace and seated himself next to Kagome at the table where the hostess seated them. Kurama sat on Hiei's other side and continued giving his friend a questioning look. "What?" Hiei ground out. He was already uncomfortable with the situation and questioning his decision. His friend wasn't making it any easier.

"Nothing, really," Kurama answered. "I'm just trying to figure out your reason for coming here today.

"My reasons are my own," Hiei told him. "Now leave it alone."

Kurama raised his hands in surrender before he turned to engage in conversation with the rest of the table.

As their waitress went around the table taking drink orders, Kagome leaned towards Hiei and quietly asked, "I thought you had to guard the border during the day."

"Not today," he answered. He was really regretting his decision to come to the café. His only relief came when Kurama told the waitress that he would want water so that the girl would skip him.

As everyone began to settle in their seats and chat, Shizuru turned to speak to Kagome. "So Kagome, what do you do?" She asked.

"My family runs a local shrine," she answered. "My grandfather is the priest, and I help out with different duties. I'm technically a priestess, but I don't usually wear the traditional clothes."

"You don't look like any of the priestesses I've see," Shizuru commented. "They usually seem more...solemn instead of peppy."

Kagome laughed, "Yeah, I guess I can see that. I was actually going to school to be a teacher, but I had to quit a while back."

"Why did you stop?" Yukina asked softly. When she noticed several people in their group tense up, she quickly asked, "Oh, did I ask something bad? I'm sorry."

Kagome also noticed the tension at the table, and though the question made her heart clench, she didn't begrudge the other woman for being curious. "It's okay," she reassured. "I got sick and couldn't go to class anymore. I'm sort of getting treatments now, but I don't want to go back until I know for sure that I would be able to finish."

"Oh," Yukina said sadly. "Well, I hope you get better soon!"

"Thanks," Kagome said as she forced the best smile that she could. Yukina seemed very sweet, and she didn't want to make her feel bad for reminding her of her condition. "So," Kagome said as she turned back to Shizuru. "Keiko said that you have your own salon? What's that like?"

With the topic change, lunch proceeded smoothly. Everyone ordered their food, with Kurama ordering for Hiei once again, and the conversations turned from work to old stories. Kagome heard about how everyone met and about tournaments that they'd gone to. She heard about old cases and harsh training routines. After convincing them that she really had traveled to the past, Kagome shared some of her best memories with her new friends. She told them about a lecherous monk who tried to spy on baths and the slayer who would punish him, she told them about an amorous wolf and a tricky fox, and she told them about a brave but grumpy half-demon.

Everyone had a great time and didn't want to say goodbye when it came time to part ways. Lunch had run much longer than anyone had anticipated since even after they were finished eating, they had just sat and talked. Kagome had needed to excuse herself at one point so that she could call her mother and let her know not to worry. But once the group was back out on the sidewalk, people began saying their goodbyes and heading home.

Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Yukina had just left as Kagome was saying goodbye to Kurama. She stepped forward and gave him a tight hug. Though he was a little surprised, he reciprocated and asked, "What is this for?"

Kagome let the taller man go and stepped back as she said, "For everything. You could have left me in the park the day that you found me, or dropped me off at the shrine and never given me a second thought. But you helped me even though you didn't know me. So thank you." Looking at Hiei and Keiko, she smiled, "And you guys too. You've all helped me get my life back. I don't know how I can ever repay any of you."

Keiko began to tear up as she pulled Kagome into a hug. "You don't have to do anything to repay us except be our friend. I'm so glad that we were able to help you," she stated.

"Okay," Yusuke said as he gently pulled Keiko away from Kagome. "She needs to breathe, Keiko."

"You two go home," Kurama told the couple. "I'll make sure that Kagome gets home safely."

"No," Hiei said as he joined the small group of people. "You go home as well, Kurama. I'll walk her."

"You guys know that I'm not five, right?" Kagome chimed in from the side.

"I'm going to the shrine anyway," Hiei answered as he nodded towards the darkening sky.

"It gets darker earlier every day," Kagome said to no one in particular. "Well, okay. Since Hiei is already going my way, it makes the most sense. You guys be careful on your way home, okay?"

Everyone agreed and set off on their separate ways after their final goodbyes. Kagome began walking down the sidewalk towards the shrine when she noticed that Hiei wasn't beside her. Turning around, she noticed him still in front of the café. "Hiei?" She called. "Is something wrong?"

Hiei watched the tall buildings around them and extended his senses. He could have sworn that he felt a flicker of demonic energy. But as he searched for anything out of the ordinary, he came up empty. Walking to catch up with Kagome, he answered, "No, let's go."

As they walked, Kagome watched Hiei. He kept his eyes forward and his mouth closed. She would just have to fix that. "So," she drawled. "I think our waitress thought that you and Kurama were a couple." When Hiei's head snapped her way, she giggled and explained, "I think it's because he kept ordering for you."

Hiei lowered his face so that it was shadowed. It wasn't often that he got embarrassed, but he could feel the emotion burning away in his stomach. It was one more reason to never go to a human establishment again.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you're a couple despite how close you two seem," she told him. "I think you're just good friends."

"How observant," Hiei muttered as he rolled his eyes and looked up again.

"I noticed that you have special feelings for someone _else_ who was at lunch," Kagome spoke confidently. When Hiei looked at her questioningly, she continued, "You were very careful to only look at Yukina when she wasn't looking at you." She watched Hiei for any reaction, but when she couldn't read his face, she bluntly asked, "So do you have a thing for her?"

"Hardly," Hiei answered seriously.

"Really?" His answer surprised Kagome. "I used to be so good at reading stuff like that between people. Well if you don't _like_ her, why all the secret looks?"

Hiei hesitated before sighing, "Most everyone else knows." Pausing to take a deep breath, Hiei admitted, "Yukina is my twin sister."

"No way!" Kagome shouted. "But you two look nothing alike!" She quieted down at the look Hiei gave her and thought back to the young demoness from lunch. "Well," she finally said after some consideration. "I guess I can see it a little in the eyes. But you said _most_ everyone knows. Who doesn't?"

Hiei was quiet for a moment and considered not answering, but he knew that Kagome would only pester him until she got the information that she wanted. "Yukina," he finally told her.

Kagome stopped at the base of the shrine steps. Hiei was only up a couple of steps when he turned back to look at her. "Yukina doesn't know you're her brother?" When Hiei nodded, Kagome's heart broke a little. "Why?" She truly didn't understand and needed to know.

Hiei turned to face Kagome and explained, "I have a...reputation. It has earned me many enemies. If Yukina knew, she would try to be closer to me and that would put her in danger."

"So you're keeping this huge secret from her to protect her?" Kagome asked. Again, Hiei nodded his answer. Kagome walked up to stand on the same step as Hiei as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say. Her first reaction was to tell him that it was a stupid reason, but she had seen the impact that reputations could have on loved ones. Rin had often been targeted as a means of getting to Sesshoumaru.

Kagome reached out with the intent to hug Hiei but then remembered who she was dealing with and thought better of it. Dropping her arms and drooping her shoulders, all she could say was, "I'm so sorry."

"The arrangement works," was Hiei's only response before he started up the stairs again. Kagome followed him quietly, but she was able to hide her sadness by the time they reached the courtyard so that her family wouldn't worry.

As they reached the door to the house, Kagome asked, "So are you actually going to use a door to come inside this time?"

"I'll stay outside until it's time for bed," he told her.

"What? No," she said as she shook her head. "It's getting dark and it'll be way too cold."

"Not for me," Hiei answered simply.

Kagome was quiet as she thought for a moment and said, "You know, I don't think you ever told me what kind of demon you are."

Hiei stiffened, but knew that if he didn't tell her someone else would. "I'm a mix of fire demon and ice demon," he told her. "I'm a cursed child."

Taken aback, Kagome asked, "Why in the world would you say you're cursed? Yukina is your twin. Is she cursed too?"

"No," Hiei answered. "Yukina wasn't the male born to the all-female race of Ice Maidens."

"If they're all women, then how...oh…" Kagome trailed off as her mind caught up and she answered her own question. "Well, still...that doesn't make you cursed," she told him.

"No?" He asked with a raised brow.

"No," Kagome confirmed. "It just means you're special," she smiled. "Are you sure you don't want to come inside?"

Hiei was stunned. He'd always been told that his being was a curse and an abomination. He'd certainly never been called "special." Without answering Kagome, he used his speed to flicker away and situate himself in the shrine's large tree.

Kagome watched him disappear suddenly and shrugged as she mumbled, "Okay then, suit yourself." Entering her home, she was greeted by her mother and launched into stories about how lunch went.

The rest of the evening progressed as usual for the Higurashi family. They ate dinner together, talked about their days, and went through their nightly rituals to get ready for bed. Hiei entered the house through Kagome's window, but he made a point not to speak with anyone.

Kagome could tell that something had changed with Hiei since their last conversation, and she was afraid that she had said something to upset him. As she climbed into bed and waited for him to uncover the flower, she spoke, "I'm sorry if I said something earlier that upset you. Your family and past aren't any of my business."

Hiei caught her eye and they stared at each other wordlessly for several long moments before Hiei nodded his acceptance of her apology and gently blew pollen her way. Once she was asleep, he put the flower away, settled himself to his new position leaned against her bed, and began his work of guiding her mind into sleep.

The blackness vibrated around him, but he kept his distance. Hiei hadn't been into one of Kagome's dreams since he had stumbled across her memory of battle. He knew better than most how private memories could be. He wouldn't appreciate another person delving into his memories without permission, and he would afford Kagome that same courtesy. As he waited for the vibrations of her dream to cease, Hiei was startled by a soft knocking sound.

Turning around, Hiei saw a door. It was very similar to the door he had created when he first entered Kagome's dream. Shortly after the knock, the door opened with a slight creak and sunlight spilled into the darkness. Hiei had to shield his eyes at first, but took his hand away when he heard his name.

"Hiei?" Kagome called into the darkness. "Is that you?"

Hiei slowly crossed to the door so that Kagome could see him more clearly. "How did you open that door?" He asked seriously.

"I don't know!" Kagome said in defense. "It was just _there_, so I opened it! What is that place?"

"That's the unconscious void where your mind goes when you sleep," he told her sharply. He hadn't created this door, and it was bothering him not knowing how it got there.

"Sleep?" Kagome asked as she looked from the darkness to the grassy field around her. "You mean this is a dream?"

"There was a door in the middle of a field," he snapped at her in an annoyed tone. "Of course it's a dream."

"Hey! You don't have to get snippy!" She yelled at him. "Up until you, it felt pretty real even _with_ the door!"

"Fine," Hiei grouched as he turned back towards the darkness.

"Hey! Where are you going?" She asked him. "Don't stay in the dark, come out here."

Hiei turned to look at her and saw her waving for him to come through the door and into the sunny meadow that she was dreaming about. He hesitated for a moment before deciding that it was okay since she was inviting him.

When he looked around the dreamscape, he saw that it was a peaceful day with the sun shining brightly on a lush meadow. The wide field sat at the base of a small hill and was bordered by a river, trees, rice fields. At the top of the hill was a small village. "Another memory?" He asked her.

"Yeah," Kagome smiled as she sat on the grassy bank and dangled her feet in the nearby river. "They aren't all blood and gore."

"Congratulations," Hiei muttered as he also took a seat but opted to keep his feet dry. "What are you wearing?"

Kagome looked down at her clothes and shrugged. "They're traditional priestess clothes. I have no idea why I'm wearing them now, though. I rarely wore them in the past," she explained.

The two sat in silence for a while and just enjoyed the scenery. Kagome pulled her feet out of the river and said, "That's Inuyasha's village on the hill."

Hiei didn't give her much of an answer but took notice when she shivered and jerkily turned to look around her. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Kagome trembled. Another shiver ran down her spine and she explained, "I had a shiver and thought it was because the river's cold, but that's not it. This is like the feeling I get when there's a demon nearby, but we're in my…" After trailing off, Kagome turned to Hiei alarmed. "Hiei, wake us up! Right now!"

"Leaving your mind so quickly could be dangerous," he tried to argue.

"I don't care!" Kagome shouted as she got to her feet and continued to look around. "I feel a demon, but there are none here! Hiei, there's a demon in my room! We're in danger! Wake us up, _now_!" She shouted.

Realizing that the danger of not waking up severely outweighed that of leaving Kagome's mind suddenly, Hiei severed his link with Kagome and awoke with a sharp gasp. He was instantly on his feet and turned to face the danger.

There, standing on the foot of Kagome's bed, was a snake demon. "I was sent for you, but it seems that I found something better," he hissed.

Hiei was hesitant to attack with Kagome so close to being in harm's way, so he stalled. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Oh, you don't know me," the demon replied with a fanged smile. "I was hired to kill you, but I believe I'll take the jewel inside this girl as a bonus."

Hiei growled deeply. The bedroom was small and cluttered and Kagome was still asleep; it was hardly an ideal fighting arena. He was just preparing to attack when Kagome suddenly sat up in bed. Hiei's eyes widened as the snake demon lept for her with his dagger, and he did the only thing he could think to do.

Kagome sat up in bed gasping for air, all of her senses on high alert. By the time the fog of sleep lifted and she gathered her bearings, Hiei toppled on top of her and a demon loomed over them. When she tried to push Hiei off of her, her hand slipped on something wet. When she pulled her hand away, she had seen enough fighting to know what blood looked like in the dark.

Heart and mind racing, pink light erupted from her blood-covered hand as she screamed, "No!"


	7. Chapter Seven

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

* * *

Sandman

Chapter Seven

"No!" Kagome screamed. She couldn't see past the light that had filled her room, but she could hear the demon's body connect with the wall across from her bed. As her vision began to clear, she felt around for anything that she could use as a weapon. Her eyes widened when her fingertips brushed against smooth metal and she realized that Hiei had dropped his sword on her bed.

Kagome gripped the blade, wincing when it bit into the flesh of her hand, and began to wiggle and thrash until she was able to sit up. Taking the hilt of the sword into her uninjured hand, she pushed as much of her energy as she could into the weapon.

When the demon stood, Kagome could see that that she had managed to burn him badly and he was missing part of one arm. The two stared at each other in a tense stand-off before the demon cursed and leapt through the window to escape into the night.

It was only after the demon was gone that Kagome realized that Souta was banging against the door and yelling for her to open it. She still hadn't managed to find her voice when he finally broke the lock and busted the door open. Souta took one look around and yelled, "What in the hell just happened?"

Hiei's sword suddenly felt unbearably heavy and Kagome's shaking hand allowed it to fall to the floor with a clatter. "Demon attack," she mumbled in shock. Kagome had never sensed a demon in her time until she had met Kurama and his friends, and their presence had lulled her into a false sense of security. She had ignored the fact that their presence meant that there were still plenty of dangerous demons out there. Looking down at Hiei as he lay motionless across her lap, Kagome's mind whirled back into action. "Souta!" She called snapping out of her daze. "He's hurt. Help me get him on his back!"

Souta ran over and helped his sister roll Hiei over. The demon grunted in pain but otherwise didn't respond.

Kagome wiggled her legs out from under her protector and leaned over him to examine his wounds.

"Kagome!" Risa called out as she reached the top of the stairs. "What happened? Are you okay?"

There was shock and worry written all over her mother's face, and for the first time Kagome looked down at herself and realized that she had Hiei's blood smeared all over her. "I'm fine," she answered. "None of it is mine. But call Kurama! I need help and he needs to know what happened. Tell him he needs to get here as soon as he can." When Risa nodded and left the room, Kagome turned her attention back to Hiei.

Opening the cloak that he wore, Kagome frowned. She now knew why the snake demon had been so quick to leave. After he had stabbed Hiei with his dagger, the blade had become lodged in Hiei's side. Being injured and without a weapon in hand, he'd fled rather than fight a priestess. "There's too much blood," Kagome spoke her thoughts aloud.

"What?" Souta asked as he fidgeted. He'd seen Kagome beaten up and injured a few times, but that was always after she had been treated and bandaged up. He had never seen anything like _this_. "Kagome, tell me how to help! None of us know what to do. You're the only one that has experience with this kind of stuff!"

Kagome untucked Hiei's shirt and began to rip upwards from the hem. "Something is wrong," she explained. "There's too much blood here for a stab wound that still has the blade in it." When she reached the area of the wound, she gasped. The blade had entered the front of Hiei's abdomen but had cut outwards and become lodged in his side. "Souta, I need lots of towels, bandages, anything you can find to stop the bleeding!"

"I'm on it!" The boy yelled as he ran out of the room.

"Why aren't you waking up?" Kagome whispered. She had seen demons take worse damage than this and retain consciousness. Trying to examine the wound more closely, she saw something strange. She gathered as much of her sheets as she could and pressed them to the wound to stem the bleeding as she used the hem of her shirt to wipe away some of the blood from Hiei's skin. Kagome frowned when she saw little black lines spreading away from the wound. Moving to look at the skin around the dagger, she cleaned what she could and saw the same black lines only longer and more pronounced. _'Poison!'_ Her mind screamed.

Gripping the dagger's handle, she tried to pull the blade free, but it remained in Hiei's side. Tears began to gather in Kagome's eyes as she let go of the sheets she had been holding in place and used both hands to pull the dagger free. More blood began to flow without the dagger to stop it, and Kagome was forced the toss the blade aside and gather more of her sheets. The white cotton was quickly turning crimson when Souta ran back into the room.

"Sorry," he apologized as he deposited the towels on the foot of the bed. "I couldn't find the bandages."

"That's okay, we just have to try to stop the bleeding," Kagome told him as she grabbed a clean towel and traded it for the soiled sheets.

"I called Kurama," Risa said as she came back to her daughter's room. "He's taking a cab and should be here in just a few minutes." Looking at the blood and unconscious Hiei, she asked again, "What happened?"

"There was a demon attack," Kagome said as she pressed another towel tightly on top of the one she already had on Hiei's wound. "Hiei protected me."

"Is there anything that I can do?" Risa asked. "Your grandfather can't get up and down the stairs very fast, but he's downstairs and wants to help as well."

Just then a small pop was heard and everyone turned to see Botan standing in the middle of the room. Her eyes went wide seeing all the mess and blood. "Kurama called and said I needed to get here immediately. What happened?" She asked as she ran to the bed and moved Souta out of the way so that she could examine Hiei.

As frazzled as her nerves were, Kagome was getting very tired of that question. "A demon attacked," Kagome answered. "Hiei protected me and I think he was poisoned by the weapon."

"Let me see," Botan said as she gently moved some of the towels out of the way. "Yes, it does appear the he was poisoned," she confirmed. "But Kurama knows more about toxins than I do. We'll have to wait for him to get here, but in the meantime I can try to close the wound before he loses too much blood."

"You can do that?" Kagome asked hopefully.

With a strained smile, Botan nodded. "I have some healing abilities," she said as she moved the towels out of the way. "But I need to see what I'm doing."

Kagome nodded and sat back in silence to watch. Her heart was pounding and she could feel her entire body trembling. She was beginning to feel a little light headed now that someone had taken over caring for Hiei. Lifting her hand, she tried to bring her powers to the surface but nothing happened. Her hand tightened into a weak fist. She was so angry with herself. Her powers had diminished while her disease took its toll, and she hadn't been training them back up properly during her recovery. Now a demon had attacked and she was tapped after one attack and what probably amounted to a small light show with Hiei's sword.

Turning her attention back to Botan's work, Kagome could see the blood flow slowing and Hiei's skin slowly stitching itself back together. She only vaguely registered her grandfather calling something up the stairs until her mother told them, "Grandpa says that Kurama just arrived."

Kagome was eager to speak with the redhead about what had happened and quickly leapt to her feet. But almost as soon as she was standing, it felt like a great weight had been placed on her. Her vision blurred around the edges and eventually went completely black. She only made it a couple of steps before she passed out and fell to her bedroom floor.

As the fog lifted from Kagome's mind, she could hear a light tapping sound. It only took a few seconds for the events that lead to her passing out to come rushing back. Her eyes snapped open as she quickly sat up to see what had happened. The first thing that her eyes landed on was her bed. The bloody sheets and towels had been taken away, but it looked as though some of the blood had soaked through and into the mattress. "Hiei…" She whispered.

"He's fine," Kurama's voice came from behind her. "He's right beside you, actually."

Looking to her left, Kagome saw that Hiei was indeed lying on a futon in the floor beside her. He was still unconscious though and appeared to be in pain judging by the expression on his face. His shirt had been removed and he wore a bandage around his abdomen. Kagome noticed that the white gauze was tinged pink in a few places and turned around to face Kurama. "Is he really okay?" She asked.

Kurama turned the desk chair so that he could face her fully before answering, "He's as okay as he can be for now. Botan did what she could and was able to close the wound for the most part. A cut is still there, but it's not as deep as it was. Botan also healed the cut on your hand and helped your mother clean you up and change your clothes."

"What about the black?" Kagome questioned ignoring what he had said about her own injuries. "When I looked at the gash, there were these little black lines coming away from it. It looked like he'd been poisoned."

"That's because he was," Kurama sighed. "It's difficult to tell what kind of poison it was, so I couldn't neutralize it completely. But I was to give him something that will at least help him fight its effects. I was also able to mix a salve to apply to what's left of his injury. The cut should be gone sometime tomorrow, but I'm not sure how long it will take for the poison to run its course and leave his body."

"This is all my fault," Kagome said softly as she turned to watch Hiei sleep.

"No, it's not," Kurama told her. "Hiei woke up briefly while you were out and told us what he remembered. He said that there was an assassin, a snake demon, that had been hired to kill him and had tracked him here. But apparently the assassin turned his sights on you."

"Me?" Kagome asked.

"He could feel the jewel that you have," Kurama explained. "We can all feel it. Those of us with demon blood, anyway. But we didn't think that it would be that much of a danger. You had the jewel without knowing about it for fifteen years, and you hadn't been attacked since you returned here after completing it again. There haven't even been any escaped demons registered as making it this far into the city in a very long time. We were careless, and for that I apologize."

Kagome was quiet as she watched Hiei. "The assassin escaped," she eventually said.

"We know," Kurama said. "The scent of burned flesh is leading away from the shrine. It appears as though he was able to make it back to Demon World alive. But this presents another problem."

"What now?" Kagome asked tiredly.

"There are legends of the jewel's power all throughout Demon World, but up until now it was simply a lost treasure," Kurama spoke. "But now there's someone out there who knows its location."

"What can we do?" Kagome asked as she subconsciously pressed a hand over the jewel's resting place.

"For now Yusuke, Kuwabara, and myself will be staying at the shrine to help protect you," Kurama told her. "Your mother was concerned for your grandfather since he would be an easy target if there was an attack. We assured her that you would be safe with us, so she decided that she and your grandfather would stay at a relative's house until things are sorted out."

"What about Souta?" Kagome continued to question.

Kurama smiled a little as he answered, "Souta actually insisted on staying here with you. I believe he's outside with Yusuke and Kuwabara."

"And you really think that we'll be safe here if demons decide to attack?" She asked skeptically.

"It would be foolish for any demons to attack blindly," Kurama told her. "And with all of our team here, we hope that it will be enough of a deterrent, at least for a while. If it becomes absolutely necessary, there's a temple compound in the mountains that we can retreat to. But it would be best not to move Hiei until he recovers."

Kagome nodded as she slipped into her thoughts. She lifted her hand and tried to manifest her powers only to be met with the same results as earlier. "I'm so weak," she laughed bitterly.

"Why do you say that?" Kurama asked.

"One attack used all of my energy. That's what made me pass out when I stood up! I should have spent the last couple of months training, not trying to get my figure back," she ground out. Kagome had to clench her eyes shut as angry tears began to fall.

"Hey," Kurama consoled gently as he kneeled down in the floor next to Kagome. "You've been trying to become healthy again. Even if you had been training your powers, it wouldn't have done you much good if your body couldn't handle them."

Kagome nodded but the tears continued to fall. "I just feel so stupid!"

"It may not mean much coming from me, but you shouldn't feel stupid. There was no way that you could have seen this coming," Kurama argued.

Kagome looked up at Kurama before harshly wiping away her tears. "Maybe not," she said. "But I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Kurama was startled when Kagome scrambled to her feet and stumbled a little before running out of the room. "Where are you going?" He called after her but received no reply. Glancing back to Hiei, Kurama stood and followed after Kagome. He found her in the kitchen rummaging through drawers. "Kagome, what are you doing?"

"Looking for a flashlight," she answered absently before finding what she'd been searching for. Checking to make sure that the batteries were still good, she ran outside.

Again, Kurama followed her. "It's too cold out here," he told her. "You need a jacket. Or better yet, you should wait until morning to do whatever it is that you're doing."

"I'm not waiting," Kagome called to him without stopping. They passed by Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Souta as they walked across the courtyard.

"What's going on?" Souta asked concerned.

"I don't know," Kurama told him.

The men and teen followed Kagome all the way to the shrine's storage room. Souta followed her inside and stood behind her as she opened boxes and searched shelves. "Kagome," he said quietly. "What are you looking for?"

"My old target," Kagome mumbled around the small flashlight she was holding in her mouth.

"Why?" Souta asked.

Pulling the flashlight from her mouth, Kagome rounded on her brother. "Because I have to be ready for next time!" She shouted. "And quit talking to me like I'm some traumatized victim! You have no idea what I've been through! That," she said forcefully as she pointed towards their home. "That is nothing. I'm not broken, Souta. I'm angry! I'm angry at the jewel and I'm angry at that demon and I'm angry at myself!"

"Kagome…" Souta tried to speak but was cut off.

"Don't you understand? I could have stopped that," she continued. "But I was selfish and I was only thinking about myself. I wasn't thinking about my duty and look what happened. These are the consequences of not being prepared! The people around me, the people that I care about, get hurt!" Frustrated and tired, Kagome sat down hard on one of the boxes near her and buried her face in her hands.

Souta approached his sister and crouched down beside her. "Kagome," he spoke quietly. "I know I don't understand, but I do know that none of this is your fault. You can't stop every bad thing from happening to people you care about, and you shouldn't try. If you want to start training again, that's fine. But let's start in the morning. It'll be sunrise in a few hours. I'll even help you find your old stuff and set it up. But for now, let's go back inside so that you can rest. It's been a long night."

Kagome looked up and was about to argue when she saw the three men standing behind her brother. She knew that they all agreed and could easily force her back inside if they wanted to. "Do you promise?" Kagome eventually asked as she looked at Souta.

Smiling, Souta stuck out his pinky finger. "Pinky promise," he offered.

Linking her little finger with her brother's, Kagome nodded with a sad smile. "Okay then," she agreed. With that, the three men followed the siblings back into the house.

The next morning, Kurama knocked lightly against Kagome's bedroom door before gently pushing it open. Looking down at the broken lock and door jamb, he commented, "I think Yusuke is going to try to fix your door today." When he saw Kagome shrug, he frowned. She had her back to him and was sitting at her desk working on something. Kurama looked at the dirty mattress and chose a clean place to sit before he continued, "Did you get any sleep last night?" Kagome shook her head to answer a negative. "Did Hiei wake up at all?" Again she shook her head, but she seemed to stop what she was working on.

Swiveling her chair around to face Kurama, Kagome said, "He has a fever. I tried to check on him, but I can barely even touch him."

Kurama leaned down and hovered a hand above the bare skin on Hiei's arm. Sure enough, intense heat was radiating off of him. "His body must be trying to burn the poison out of his system," Kurama mused. Looking up at Kagome, he asked, "Do you have any thick blankets?"

"Yeah, I think so," she answered as she stood and moved to her closet. After rummaging around the top shelf for a moment, she withdrew three old quilts that her grandmother had given her when she was younger.

"Help me cover him with them," Kurama said as he stood.

"Why?" Kagome asked even though she was already unfolding the first blanket.

"A body naturally knows how to heal itself. If Hiei's body is trying to burn out whatever he was poisoned with, we should help," he explained.

"What if he gets too hot?" Kagome questioned as they began to layer the second blanket on top of the first.

Kurama smiled a little as he said, "Don't worry, Hiei's body can withstand a lot more heat than this."

"Because he's part fire demon?" Kagome asked.

Pausing in his movements, Kurama looked at Kagome. "Did Hiei tell you that?" He asked her. When Kagome nodded, Kurama smiled and gave a surprised hum before resuming his actions.

"What?" Kagome prodded.

"I'm just surprised that he shared something about himself, that's all," Kurama told her. As they finished tucking the third and last blanket around Hiei's body, Kurama spoke, "The original reason that I came up here was to tell you that Souta and Kuwabara found your archery target and have it set up in the courtyard."

"Good," Kagome said as she quickly crossed to her dresser to pull out a change of clothes. She trotted to the bathroom and came out a couple of minutes later in her clean clothes and with her hair pulled up. Going back into her room, she quickly pulled on her socks and sneakers.

"What are you trying to do, Kagome?" Kurama asked as she pulled a hoodie out of her closet and made her way downstairs.

"I'm going to see how rusty I am," Kagome answered. She was glad when Kurama didn't follow her outside. She was tired of talking. It was time to take action.

When she spotted Souta and Kuwabara, she smiled. Souta had also pulled out her bow and quiver of arrows. "Souta," she called to grab his attention. Wordlessly, she held out her hand for her bow.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Kagome?" He asked as he handed over what she wanted. "You haven't practiced in a really long time."

"All the more reason to start now," Kagome answered. She walked up to the target before she turned around and counted out several measured paces. Pulling out her first arrow, she notched it and attempted to pull the bowstring back. She was only able to move it back a few inches. Frowning, she gripped it tighter and pulled back with all of her strength. When she let go, the arrow only went a few feet and never made it anywhere near the target. Kagome's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"Kagome," Souta said as he approached her. He watched as she grabbed another arrow and tried again with the same results. "Kagome, it's called muscle atrophy. You lost a lot of muscle mass when you were sick and haven't been able to train your muscles back to where they used to be."

"I didn't think I had gotten this weak, though," she lamented. "I can barely even pull back my bowstring. I learned archery through necessity. I have no idea how to actually train up from nothing."

"Urameshi could probably help with that," Kuwabara offered. "He knows all about how to do strength training."

"Do you know where he is?" Kagome asked as she removed her quiver.

"I think he's in the storage building looking for some tools," Souta answered.

"Thanks," Kagome said as she placed her bow and quiver with her target and headed for the storage building. When she arrived at the building, she spotted Yusuke looking through some old boxes. "Yusuke?" She called as she entered the room.

"Yeah?" He asked as he turned around. "How are you doing, Kagome?"

"Okay," she answered as she fidgeted a little.

"Need something?" He asked her.

"I was wondering," she trailed off and paused before looking up at him. She needed help, but she hated asking for it. But if Yusuke was her best chance for retraining her body, she knew that she would just need to suck it up. Steeling her resolve, Kagome blurted out, "Will you help me train?"

"Train what?" Yusuke asked as he stood up and walked closer to her.

"Me," she answered. "Firing an arrow used to be no problem for me, but now I can barely pull back the string. Kuwabara said that you might be able to help me."

Yusuke hesitated. "I don't know," he said. "The only regiments I've ever known have been pretty harsh. I don't really know how to go easy on someone."

"I don't care," Kagome told him seriously. "Train me as hard as you can. I can't stay like this. I have to get stronger and the sooner the better."

Yusuke studied Kagome closely. Her body was trembling slightly, but her eyes were filled with a fire and a seriousness that he couldn't ignore. A smile broke out across his face as he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll help. When do you want to start?"

"Now," Kagome answered.

* * *

When Hiei woke up, the first thing he noticed was that his side hurt like hell. The second thing he noticed was that he was underneath several pounds of blankets. Frowning, he pushed the blankets off of his body and eased into a sitting position. He looked around the room and saw that he was alone. When he tried to stand, he felt a sharp pain in his side and looked down. There was a rough scar left where he had been stabbed. Hiei sneered before grabbing his sheathed sword and using it as leverage to stand.

He was careful of the pain in his side as he made his way downstairs and through the empty house. When he finally found someone, it was Kurama washing dishes in the kitchen. "How long was I down?" He asked as he sat at the table.

"Ah, you're finally up," Kurama said as he glanced over his shoulder. "You've been out cold for a little more than two weeks."

"Where's Kagome?" Hiei questioned.

"She's outside training with Yusuke and Kuwabara," Kurama answered as he finished washing the last dish and set it aside to dry.

"Training?" Hiei asked skeptically. "With Yusuke?"

"You'd be surprised," Kurama smiled. "When she puts her mind to something, she's apparently very dedicated...and resilient. Come see."

Hiei used his sword again to stand and followed his friend outside. "Has she been sleeping?" He asked.

"Barely," Kurama told him. "It appears that she will indeed relapse if your sessions with her stop. For the most part she spends her days training with Yusuke and her nights meditating to build up her spiritual powers again. She gets an hour or so of sleep here and there when I make her inhale the pollen from the flower, but she can't stay asleep on her own."

Changing the subject, Hiei inquired, "Resilient or not, how is she able to train with Yusuke?"

Kurama looked away as he answered, "She refused to stop training and give her muscles time to heal, so I used a few of my plants to mix up a solution for her. She takes it before she meditates and it works to speed up her healing processes." When Hiei glared at him, he defended himself, "I warned her that it was best to take the natural route, but there was no talking her out of it."

"You shouldn't have offered it to her in the first place," Hiei told him.

"Even so," Kurama said as he guided Hiei over to the shrine's staircase. "Her progress has been impressive. It seems that Yusuke has been using a similar regimen to the one Genkai first used on him, though I suspect that it's much less intense."

Hiei looked to the other side of the steps and saw Souta sitting on the top step. "Hey!" Souta greeted. "Good to see you up." Hiei nodded and looked down the stairs. He could see Kagome, Yusuke, and Kuwabara all making their way up the steps at a brisk pace. "This is like their tenth time up the stairs this morning," Souta said.

"Why don't you join them?" Kurama teased lightly.

Souta made a noise in the back of his throat before he said, "No, thank you. She's training for a potential fight. What do I need to train for?"

"You should always be ready for a fight, Souta," Kagome panted as she neared the top step. "Besides, don't you have soccer tryouts in the spring?" Souta didn't say a word as he pointed behind her. When Kagome turned to see what her brother was looking at, she almost squealed. "Hiei!" She cried as she ran to the demon. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. It was only when she heard him grunt uncomfortably that she released him. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She told him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he brushed off her concern. He had to glare at his teammates who began to snicker at him. They knew that Kagome's hug had made him uncomfortable, but he didn't want to upset the woman when she was already worried about him.

"Oh! You have to come see," Kagome said enthusiastically as she tugged him across the courtyard. "Two weeks ago, I could barely pull back my bowstring and my powers had faded to almost nothing. Now watch," she told him as she picked up her bow and grabbed an arrow. Checking to make sure that he was watching, she pulled back her arrow before letting it fly. There was an impressive show of lights as the arrow made its way to the bullseye. "It's all thanks to Yusuke's training and those drinks that Kurama makes for me," she chirped.

When she turned to look at him, Hiei wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't usually one to give praise, but she looked so hopeful. "Well done, Kagome," Kurama took over for him. "You've come a long way in only a couple of weeks."

Kagome kept her smile, but her face fell a little. "Thanks," she said.

"Well, Hiei really should rest some more," Kurama said as he motioned for Hiei to head back to the house. "With the way he's moving, I'd say not all of the poison is out of his system yet."

"Of course," Kagome agreed. "I'm sorry, I just got so excited when I saw him awake."

Kurama nodded his understanding before he pushed Hiei to being walking. Back inside the house, the two went back up to Kagome's bedroom. Hiei walked to stand beside the window and watch Kagome and the others in the courtyard. They had already resumed training and were doing push-ups.

"I think she's doing a lot of this for you," Kurama told him from the doorway.

"Me?" Hiei questioned with a quirked brow.

"The night that everything happened, after she woke up and we explained what had happened, she was very upset that she wasn't able to do more to help," Kurama explained. "She specifically mentioned the people that she cared about getting hurt because she hadn't been prepared."

"It was a generalization," Hiei dismissed.

"Perhaps," Kurama replied with doubt in his tone.

"She's tired," Hiei observed. The dark rings under Kagome's eyes hadn't escaped his notice.

"We know," Kurama told him. "But there isn't much that any of us can do about it."

"Any word on the assassin?" Hiei asked.

"No," Kurama sighed. "I've spoken with Koenma, and there hasn't been any word on who might have hired him. They also don't know exactly who he was or where he is now."

"He came prepared," Hiei commented. "He used a poison intended to be strong enough to kill me."

"And it likely would have killed you if Kagome hadn't removed the dagger when she did," Kurama told him.

Changing the topic, Hiei asked, "Have they decided what to do with the jewel if she dies?"

"_When_ she dies, Hiei," Kurama corrected seriously. When Hiei cast him a dark look, he responded, "No matter what's done, it's only a matter of time. She is human, after all." Kurama paused, unsure of his next words, but continued, "I don't know what your feelings towards her are, but it would be best not to grow too attached to her, Hiei. I'm aware of how protective you can be, but her mortality isn't something that you can protect her from."

"Answer my question," Hiei growled.

Kurama frowned at his friend's response, but answered, "Right now, the hope is that they'll be able to remove her soul from the reincarnation cycle and take the jewel with it. But that's requiring them to check the fates of every reincarnation that she might have had. They don't want to disrupt any more futures than they have to. But checking all of the possibilities is going to take some time. We'll just have to protect her until they're done and decide if it's even possible."

The room was silent as Hiei watched Kagome. "Leave," he eventually ordered. "I need to rest." Kurama didn't say anything else as he left Hiei alone, and Hiei continued to watch Kagome for several more minutes before lying back down on his futon. Kurama may have been one of the smartest beings that he'd ever met, but he could be very wrong at times. Kagome continually impressed him with her drive and willingness to push herself. She had caught his attention and gradually earned his respect.

Kurama was wrong when he said that there was no protecting her from her mortality. Hiei had always been a firm believer in the phrase "where there's a will, there's a way," and if there was one thing that he had, it was an iron will.


	8. Chapter Eight

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.


End file.

Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Drama, Romance