She expected him to believe her, because of who she was. And she was an angel who had fallen from heaven for speaking out against God about the atrocities that happened to her fellow humans.

He did believe her. Wholeheartedly, even though his thoughts and past experiences lashed their greedy tongues alongside his brain, willing him to slice her throat for such lies.

Hiei grinned inwardly at himself. Keiko doesn't lie.

He spoke, voice drenched in his lissome venom and spouting poison just for her. She may have looked innocent, but her skin was tougher than she let on. "You expect me to believe that you've simply abandoned your feelings for the detective?"

"No." She said.

He raised an eyebrow whilst narrowing his stare to pinpoint the lies supposedly lurking beneath her surface.

Keiko doesn't lie.

"I still love Yusuke." She said, her softness holding a strange amount of confidence.

"So go to him." Hiei hissed. He needn't raise his voice to instill the wrath of the grim reaper himself.

And yet, she stood there, unperturbed, composed as ever except for the flush that had appeared on her high cheekbones from the heat of threatening lethality radiating from Hiei's demon energy which writhed with emotion even though the wrath upon his visage was unbroken.

He loved her.

It was a dirty breed of love, one that would forever stay forbidden and an aching cyst upon his heart.

And hers too.

So why, for any reason...

Could she leave the Detective for someone like him?

She took a step toward him. He didn't move.

And then another.

And another.

Soon he could feel her body pressing against him, embracing him. He did nothing, just let his arms hang at his side, trying to comprehend everything from his strained breath to how his chin perfectly fit within the crook of her neck. He was one of the most feared individuals in all of Demon World, and yet here she was, a human, a weakling, a precious seraph, a nymph from the lands of purity he thought he would never be allowed to see, let alone touch.

He should have pulled away, but he didn't.

He should have pushed her, saved himself from her touch of sweet, sweet poison, only to disappear into thin air, leaving her to her own heartbreak.

His arms snaked around her waist, minds of their own, urging her to explain further why he would ever be chosen for this sort of thing over Yusuke Urameshi.

"I'll always love him. But I love you more. Don't you understand that, Hiei? I love you more, and nothing you do will ever change that."

He was no stranger to emotion. She just displayed it more clearly, better.

So he said nothing to that, his heart thrumming to the beat of an extrinsic song called acceptance.

Keiko doesn't lie.