"Hn. No need for your apologies." Hiei looked around. "Will you be able to get home by yourself, or do I need to make sure you don't get mugged again?" Though he was genuinely concerned, he masked it with a layer of sarcasm in his voice.

"Uhm..." She looked around anxiously. "If you don't mind..." She said with a nod. Tonight rang out as one of those nights that anything that could go wrong, likely would

"It's not like I have anything important to attend to." He shrugged, cleaning off his sword on the shirt of the thug who had attacked Keiko from behind, before sheathing it. It seemed he had killed that one.

She looked around her. It was a mess. "Uhm... You do realize that when people find out about this, it will be classified as a mass murder." She said, looking around. She wasn't so much condescending as much as warning him on what could happen. Keiko stood up and grabbed her briefcase.

"Do you think I care what the human authorities would class it as?" He was more concerned about what her parents might think when they saw the state of her clothes and briefcase. "Anyway, it was self-defense, wasn't it?"

"Well techniqually, yes, but they won't know that." She said. She looked at him. "So I guess let's go." She would figure something out to tell her mom and dad. For some reason, she had this feeling that 'Oh mom and dad, I got attacked by thugs and a demon saved my life,' wouldn't quite fly.

Hiei nodded. "Let's." He knew where she lived, of course, but would let her lead the way, anyway. No use in letting her know that he'd stalked her for a week before the kidnapping.

She led the way back. Everytime she heard a news, she flinched. Tonight really wasn't her night. "So, just curious... Why the sudden apology?" This time, her tone was so accusing. Actually it was more curious.

"It was Kurama's idea. As I said before, he wants to believe I've changed somehow." The former fox had changed himself greatly, Hiei thought. Sickening, how one could lose pride in what they were supposed to be. He hoped never to forget where he came from like Kurama had.

((I blame you for the fact that I'm on fanfiction.net, reading Hiei x Keiko fics.))

And just what if he's right?" Keiko asked. "It's not completely impossible." She said as she looked ahead of her. "In fact, change is something people should be striving for. Not shying away from."

"Maybe most people strive for change. Maybe it's a human thing. But I'm fine the way I am." Cold, stubborn, and cruel. It was all he knew. After all, why would someone like him go soft?

Keiko turned and looked at him. Her eyes seemed to be reading into his very essence. "And what if those are just words? Are you afraid that you might actually care for more than yourself? That maybe you're meant to live for more? Does that bother you?"

"Hn. You don't know me well enough to say that I don't care for anyone," Hiei muttered, thinking of Yukina. "But, yes, the thought of going soft like the fox has does perturb me."

"Not soft..." She said softly. She did feel bad that assumption that she had just made about the caring. "I'll just stop talking now..." She said quietly as she turned back around.

Hiei looked at the human. She was being so irrational, suggesting that he start caring. But at the same time, she seemed to honestly believe what she preached. "Maybe it works for you humans, but I doubt that it would ever work for me."

"You're not that different... Sure you may have powers, and different blood running through your veins, but we are all the same in one way. At one time or another, every single person in this life will find something worth being better for. Whether the feeling is a mututual one or no, there will be someone that changes it all..." She said, looking to the stars.

"Like you are for Yusuke?" Hiei asked, wondering if that was what she referred to. "He does seem to behave a bit less idiotic around you. Or idiotic in different ways." He, too gazed up at the stars, just as a comet blazed across the sky.

She smiled. "Yusuke is... Well. He's like a brother. I love him like the brother I never had. Besides... He doesn't have the time in his life for a plain girl." She said with a nod.

"I see. And have you asked him if he feels that way?" After all, Hiei was fairly sure Yusuke did like Keiko. "Beside that, I doubt a plain girl like you claim to be could have swung that briefcase with that force. You could learn the sword, if you had a good teacher."

"I can't... Like I said... He's so much like a brother... It'd be so awkward." She said softly. She glanced back at him when he spoke of her learning swords. "You really think so?" She asked with a smirk.

Hiei nodded sincerely. "I do think so. You have the strength." Interesting, how she kept calling Yusuke a brother. Humans were adverse to romance with siblings. So in essence, she was telling him Yusuke was out of the question?

"Heh... I just pictured that. I'd probably make some pretty ridiculous mistakes at first. Ridiculous, but more than likely humorous." She said with a grin.

"Learning the sword is not a joke. But yes, I can tell there would be mistakes that seem elementary to me." Somehow, he'd decided already that he would teach her. Such talent ought not be wasted.

She nodded, then looked down at her watch. When she saw the time she paniced. "Late! I'm so late! Mom and dad are going to freak out!" She said as stumbled and started running. "No way... I'll never make it on time!"

Hiei didn't ask; he picked Keiko up and leapt to the rooftops, hopping from roof to roof until he reached her home, where he gently set her on the ground. He then turned, as though to walk away. He'd delivered her home safely.