I Can't Make You Love Me, Epilogue~YYH

Thirteen Years Later
She sensed his presence suddenly behind her, but wasn't a bit surprised. Her intuition had told her that morning that she would see him tonight and she had spent the day steeling herself for the encounter. She believed she was prepared for what he was going to say, and what she would have to do. Now was the test.
"Hey Hiei," she smiled down at the paperwork as she pushed it aside. "It's been a long month, hasn't it?" She spun around in the chair and smiled at him.
He was standing by the window, leaning back against the sill and his red eyes looked troubled. "Lily," he said slowly. "Something's come up. Mukuro's having trouble and--"
"You don't know when you'll be back again." Her smiled faltered slightly as she finished his sentence, but she forced it back into place. "It might take months or even years, yes, I know Hiei. I knew this day was coming for a long time."
He swallowed as he looked at the woman sitting in the high desk chair. She hadn't gotten any taller in over a decade, but now she seemed perfectly placed in the adult world. "You could always come with me," he muttered.
"Mmm, I've thought about that many times, but I'm afraid the human world is my home, I am still human. I would never be comfortable in the demon world, even if I had you. Hiei, I know you're going away again tomorrow. I know I'm still a stupid, silly human girl, and for a long time I've been able to pretend it wouldn't happen. Now I think I've grown up enough to accept the truth. This world is not for you. Everyone has settled down around us: Yusuke and Keiko have popped out a couple kids, Yukina is content, Kuwabara has become successful, even Kurama and Mitsuko are thriving, and I have started up my own little company and gotten it off the ground. Everyone but you is happy. The past couple years you've been going to the demon world more and more frequently, your stays there have gotten longer." She paused and swallowed hard, forcing down the rising lump in her throat, forcing herself to remain calm and pleasant. "You're bored here and you want something more exciting and adventurous. You're not the marrying and settling down type, you never were and I don't think you ever will be. I am not enough anymore, and I am getting older."
"You're still young," he snapped. "Twenty-eight isn't old for a human. And you can still fight; you are in even better shape than when I met you."
"But you're leaving, aren't you Hiei?" He looked away quickly and her sad smile grew fonder at the same time as the tears welled up. "I have a favor to ask you Hiei." He looked around at her again, his lips twitching at the sight of her flickering aura and mixed expression. "After you leave, please don't come back."
"What?! Why would you say such a stupid thing? Woman, you really are still a silly girl."
She laughed at that and stood up, approaching him slowly. "Hiei, it's because I love you that I ask that, because you love me, and because I want you always to remember me how I am, how I was. I want you to remember the strong, happy girl, the fighter, the girl you fell in love with. The girl who was goofy and cute. I don't want you to see me as a middle-aged soccer mom if, by some sick twist of fate, I happen to become one, and god, I don't want you to see me old, wrinkled and weak."
"You're still young," he repeated, taking a step forward. "Girl you might be getting older, but you won't look like Genkai for another forty years."
"Forty years goes fast for a demon, doesn't it?" She laughed. "When we're young time seems to go so slowly, but as we age it speeds up. And we humans age quickly. You'd think nothing of coming back in a few years, but by then I'd be in my thirties! Hiei, you are like Peter Pan, and I am Wendy. Do you know what happens to Peter, Hiei?" He grunted and looked away again although he knew full well what she was talking about. "Wendy leaves Neverland and grows up while Peter stays a boy forever, he comes back to visit Wendy but finds her old. It's not a matter of staying in Neverland for us, Hiei. We can't choose whether to age or not, I will and you won't. But I'm not saying I don't want you to send me messages!" she said suddenly, and he looked up at her pained expression. "We still have people in common, I want to know how you're doing, I want to make sure you're okay."
The breath was squeezed out of her suddenly as she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug. "You damn, stupid woman, I'll do what you ask me but I think it's ridiculous. You're the only one I ever loved, and no one, no damn demoness or human wench could ever come to close to you, you stupid human girl."
"Hiei, I might get married, I might have kids, but I'll never be able to love another man the same. I'll always remember you glaring at me, yelling at me, saving me, and no one could hope to compare." He let out a growl of acknowledgement and crushed her a little bit more. She didn't complain, even though she was concerned about the pressure on her stomach, she was too happy and sad.
"Well, aren't you going to cry?" he demanded as he loosened his hold enough to look into her eyes. She started laughing, her body trembling in his arms as she covered her mouth. Then the tears came and she clutched at him in much the same way as when she had been a frightened girl of fifteen.

~(-_-)~
A Year Later
"Hello Hiei," Kurama said pleasantly. "It's nice to see you again."
"I'm only here for a short time," the shorter man replied as he glared around the room. "I wanted to check on, people. What happened to your hair?"
The fox demon reached up and ruffled his short hair. "Ah, I'm afraid there was an accident with some gum. Mitsuko'd been bugging me to cut it short for a while so I thought I might as well try it. It'll grow back quickly enough."
"So I see your brats are fine if they're giving you that much trouble. How's Lily?"
Kurama chuckled delicately and gave his friend a slightly tired smile. "I've been thinking for a long time about how to tell you this."
"She got married?"
"Oh no, no no. Which of course makes it slightly more awkward for her. No Hiei, Lily's had a baby."
Silence filled the space between them as Hiei's eyes tried to fix on Kurama, but didn't seem to be able to get the focus quite right. Kurama merely stood waiting for a response, letting the information sink in. "Mine?"
"Well she will neither confirm nor deny," he reached for his wallet and pulled out a small picture. "But we all think it's pretty obvious."
He handed the small photograph to the fire demon and watched the latter's eyes widen in surprise. The picture showed a baby boy being held by Lily's parents. He had wide brown eyes like his mother but the spiky black hair was already well defined and he has something of Hiei's facial features, though they were rounded out by baby fat and not fully developed yet. Looking a bit closer Hiei caught a glint of red in the eyes that was not caused by the camera.
"That one's for you," Kurama said as he reached into another pocket. "She also gave me a letter to give you."
Hiei took the single folded sheet of paper without thinking; he was still staring at the photograph. 'Hiei, You're probably angry at me, very angry, right now but I didn't know the last time I saw you. I had some suspicions that I was either suffering from a nasty stomach flu or pregnancy, but I didn't take the test until after we'd said goodbye. I didn't want to tie you down. I didn't want to trap you into staying with me. I knew you wouldn't like it, but you would if I waved a baby under your nose. You're too honorable like that. I have no right to tell you not to come now, he is your son, but you don't have to feel obligated either. You didn't ask for a child and you have your own business to take care of. I named him Ramsey Ryuu Romano, I thought Hiei jr. might be a bit much.' He could almost imagine her giggle at the end of the line. 'Love you always, Lily"
Kurama patted his shoulder. "Now we're all dads."
"Shut up fox." Kurama pulled back his hand as the smaller man turned away, the paper crumpling in his fist. "I am not a 'dad,' I am not even father material and she knows it. She knows me too well." He turned back to face Kurama and the other waited patiently for his friend to continue. "I want, pictures," he glanced down at the one in his hand. "More pictures, get one with her in it too, that won't be breaking my promise to her. I'm going to be gone for a while, fox."
"Of course Hiei." Kurama nodded and watched his friend leave the way he'd come, through the window.

~fin~
aaaannnd that's it folks!
I've been asked about a sequel but I really don't think I'll do one. If I did it would be when thier kids grows up and meets Hiei, heh heh, but I probably won't write it down. LHD is still continuing and Lily and Hiei will still be in that, though Lily less frequently now.