The Pure Heart of A Child

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I wanted to add another chapter in here before chapter eight and I just had some troubles hammering out the details…that, and getting time to write was a problem too. Hope you guys enjoy it! ^^

Disclaimer: As you already know, I don’t own a single thing. *sighs deeply*

Chapter 7: Getting to Know You

Kagome awoke a couple of hours later and felt a warm, comforting pair of arms around her. She blinked twice before twisting around a bit to look into the face of her source of warmth. She had to fight down the urge to kiss the sleeping figure beside her as his red locks floated down his face and spilled over his shoulders. ‘So peaceful…’ she thought gently, before reluctantly pulling out of his embrace. Her body wouldn’t let her stay as she raced to the bathroom.

Finishing with her call of nature, she yawned and stretched, her mind now turning back on fully. The look on Kouga’s face when he was under Naraku’s control was scary. She could still see as he rushed for her, and she felt the sting of his claws in her skin once more. Frowning to herself, she pushed up her sleeves and looked at the reddened marks. Dried blood caked to the wounds, and she sighed, going back into the bathroom and washing away the blood, making sure to add a little peroxide to the wounds, making them sting and bubble before wrapping them up. It was a little difficult, but in the end, Kagome managed.

She walked back to the bedroom, and looked in on Kurama before deciding she didn’t want to go back to sleep. Not yet. She walked around Genkai’s and found everyone else to be asleep in various locations. Kuwabara was sleeping outside of Yukina’s room, and she had to fight down a giggle. He was shivering, but he was also snoring very loudly. Taking pity on the orange haired man, she pulled out a blanket from her bag and placed it over him, awaking him momentarily. His sleepy voice said, “Thanks.” Before he fell back into the land of dreams. Smiling gently, she headed out to the living room, where Yusuke was sleeping in a fashion similar to Kuwabara. Shaking her head, she covered him up, but the spirit detective didn’t even stir. She felt Genkai’s aura stationary, but didn’t feel the need to check on her.

She wondered where Hiei was. She could feel him…he was around, somewhere, but he seemed, frustrated, for some reason. Kagome felt the distress in his aura, and she didn’t like it. Frowning, and concerned, she walked outside and followed his radiating aura, and found him to be in a tree, sweating like he had just run the marathon. Now extremely worried, she called out fearfully, “Hiei? Are you okay?”

~*~

The fire apparition was slowly running out of trees to decimate, and by this time he had worked up a good sweat, and decided to have mercy on the remaining trees around him and took a seat in one of the survivors.

His mind drifted back to the girl he had met only a few days ago. He was tired of denying the fact that she intrigued him, more so than anyone he had ever met, youkai or ningin. Sure, her scent was a definite fascination. He had never met anyone with a scent as pure as hers. Everyone and everything he had met had some degree of impurity to them, but hers was a scent without any contamination at all. Her power was another thing that interested him. It was wild and uncontrolled, but given enough time, she would be a formidable force to be reckoned with. He would rather be an ally than an enemy against the little miko; especially when she learned to completely harness the deep reservoir of power that resided in her.
He sighed and thought back to the day he first met her. He could sense the deep, almost entirely encircling sadness that emanated from her, and he wondered how a human scent could hold that much misery and sadness in it. Even he had something that made him what humans called ‘happy’. His sister had accepted him with no hesitation, and it was something that sustained him even in the darkest of situations.

The girl was an enigma to him. He had yet to decipher just how he felt about this girl. ‘This…miko.’ He thought, leaning back against the tree. ‘She has yet to learn anything of my past, yet she does not judge me, or condemn me.’ He couldn’t help but question what her ulterior motives were. Sure, she had asked nothing of him since that first day they met, and surprising to even himself, he didn’t count that. Listening was something anyone could do, even though he was sure that if she had told anyone else what she had shared with him, they would be sure to take her away to the nearest crazy house without a second thought.

He growled to himself once more as he found that his contemplation was once again on the girl named Kagome. She was never far from his thoughts, and that bothered him. He didn’t know if he wanted to be closer to her than he already was. Closeness and relationships are something the fire apparition was not used to, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed with the little miko. He believed that she would not reject him…deep down in his heart of hearts, but his mind kept replaying the facts. ‘She is a miko, I am a demon……I am a forbidden child, and she is pure……She has feelings for the fox……’

He was called out of his musings when the object of his reflection said in a fear filled voice, “Hiei? Are you okay?”

~*~

The fire apparition looked down to the miko, his face schooled into an expressionless mask before he answered, “I am fine. Why are you out here? It’s not safe.” He said before looking back up into the leafy branches of the tree.

“I think I’m safer here than anywhere.” She said softly, taking a seat on the forest floor below him.

“And how do you figure, miko?” he asked, his eyebrow arching up in contemplation.

“Because, I’m with you.” She said softly, so low that even with his demonic hearing, he could barely pick it up.

“And what makes you think I would protect the life of one such as you?” he asked, a little humor in his voice. He wanted to see what made her tick, and how she would react to his obvious degrading to her person.

“Because you love me and you know it!” she shouted up in almost smirking tone of voice, which didn’t really affect him, it was her choice of words.

Quickly he shouted back, “I do not love you!” he said indigenously. He waited for her retort, but found nothing coming forth except a loud burst of laughter. Confused, he looked down on her shaking form, the laughter spilling from her lips.

“What is so funny, miko?” he asked, a slight bit of distrust in his voice.

After a few moments, her laughter subsided to something else entirely, and it put the fire apparition on edge. He detected the hint of salt in the air, and instinctively knew she was crying. Now confused, and worried, he jumped down from his branch just in time to see her quickly try to wipe away her tears. “It’s nothing.” She said softly, her voice pitched higher than normal, and the tears still streaming her face.

“Why are you crying?” he asked in almost an exasperated tone of voice. This girl cried a lot, and it wasn’t something he was used to dealing with.

“I wasn’t crying…” she lied, her voice betraying her actions.

“Then what is that?” he asked, taking a finger and flipping away a stray tear on her face. The moment his flesh touched her cheek, time froze, and both stared at each other, shock registering on their faces. The electric shock that went through them was strange, but not entirely unpleasant.

After a moment, Hiei pulled his hand away, but couldn’t find the strength to break eye contact with her. Kagome was still trying to comprehend what happened when he touched her. Apparently the bolt from the blue wasn’t only felt by her, but him as well.

Her mind finally came back on-line and she looked down, her face becoming sad again. “Okay…so I was crying.” She said softly, holding back the flood of tears that so desperately wanted to be let free.

“Hn, I knew as much. Why were you crying?” he asked, his voice softening.

“Because…I was scared. I am scared.” She said, bringing her knees up into her chest.

Confusion was the only thing Hiei registered, before he blurted out, “But…you said you felt safe with me. Why would you be scared?” Hiei rarely divulged his thoughts like this. Normally, he would have the Jagan answer his questions, as it was much more impersonal, but this girl was personal…her entire being was personal to him.

“I’m not scared to be with you, and I’m not scared when I’m with you. I feel safe…with you. But…something else….someone else…scares me. Naraku scares me. Seeing Inuyasha again scares me, losing my friends scares me, having that bastard controlling my friends scares me.” She was on a roll now and her voice became louder and louder as she continued to share her deepest fears with him.

“I’m scared that I won’t be strong enough to defeat him for good. I’m scared the jewel will get shattered again and we’ll have to repair it again, I’m terrified that he will do the same things to people here as he did in the past…” she paused before looking straight into his eyes. He didn’t like the emotions in those eyes. They were haunted, full of fear, sadness, defeat. “But the one thing that scares me the most…is something that I shouldn’t even be worrying about, but I do anyway. It’s such a selfish fear, that I feel sick even thinking about it.” She said softly, her tears running down her face once more, this time they were unchecked, and Hiei wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what she was most afraid of.

“What is your deepest fear, Kagome?” he asked, taking a deep breath as he awaited her answer. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, he thought he almost saw a brief smile on her face before she said, “My biggest fear…is that I will always lose those who I love. My biggest fear, is that I will die alone.”

Silence filled the clearing, and Hiei felt something inside him snap at her words. Feelings he had held back for years came rushing back to the surface, and he had to take a deep breath in order to force them back before they overwhelmed him. ‘Her fears…my fears….why are they the same?!’ he thought, his eyes widening. He repeated her words in his head three times to cement them to memory.

“I guess it’s silly, isn’t it? I’m so worried about being alone, about dying alone, that I’m not thinking of the big picture. If Naraku is defeated, who will really care if I die? Everyone will live, and be happy. As guardian of the Shikon, my life isn’t important. Midoriko had to deal with something worse than death, she didn’t even get to go to the afterlife. I’m such a selfish person.” She said with a bittersweet smile on her face.

Hiei didn’t know what to say. ‘What does someone say to something like that?’ it was ironic that Kurama had asked him the very same thing not three hours ago. This girl said things that seemed to be fueled by truth, but when it boiled down to it, the girl was based on emotions. Not instinct, it seemed. Her every thought and action was based on her emotions. How she felt about the situation she was thrown in. Fear for her friends, anxiety over the future, sadness over her loneliness…every word that came from her and every thing that she did was provoked by the power behind her feelings.

‘Is this the source of her purity? Of her innocence?’ Hiei couldn’t help but think as he watched her get to her feet. She looked slightly dejected, but he still was unsure of how to make her understand her worth. Her existence had worth, even if it was only to him.

“I’m sorry for bugging you. I’m going back to bed. See you in the morning, Hiei.” She said softly, walking away from him. He watched her walk away, and he felt, for the first time in his life, his heart break out of love.

~*~

A/N: Okay, so it’s not a really long chapter, but the next one will make more sense, and get some semblance of order back to this story. Eheh…please R/R!

A/N: I love the reviews! They keep my muses fed and energetic. Thank you so much!

Kudo’s Loves!

A/N: Next Chapter: A Pure Wish