Kuwabara stood in the refrigerator doorway loading his arms up with most of the food in the hotel room. He was so busy that he didn't notice Hiei walk up next to him. As he reached out to grab the last rice ball, Hiei caught it at the same time.

"Hey, shorty, that's mine!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Do you wish to fight me for it?" Hiei retorted.

"No," he paused, "I got a better idea. I'll play you janken for it. Or, are you to chicken?" Hiei, never refusing a challenge, said fine. On the first shoot Kuwabara won. He gave a snicker and stuffed the rice ball in his mouth. Hiei looked at his hand still in the paper position, mumbled to himself, and stalked into the living room. Botan was reading a book on the couch. She looked up.

"And where are you going, Hiei?" He glared back at her.

"Out!"

Hiei crossed the large forest to the demon city. There were tall buildings, a noisy marketplace, and was over flowing with demons. He looked around. Then he started walking again. He didn't want to go back to the hotel just yet. If he had been paying attention to what was in front of him, and not plotting ways to torture Kuwabara, he would have seen a human girl run past him. As she ran by, their shoulders collided. She turned her head quickly to see what she hit. Hiei's eyes met hers. Then she turned and ran into an enclosed alley. Right as she turned the corner a lizard like demon ran up to Hiei.

"Hey, did you see a human run by here? She's a dirty little thief!" Hiei motioned in the opposite direction of which she ran.

"Thanks man!" And with that he ran the wrong way. Hiei had a strange feeling that he had met this girl before. Silently he crept into the shadows.

She stood in the alleyway catching her breath. She could hear the demon talking to someone, so she peeked her head around the corned to see what was happening. A guy pointed in the other direction and the demon ran off.

She leaned against the wall to calm her racing heart. As her chest heaved the black, long sleeved woven top rustled slightly over the black tank top she wore underneath. She bent down to brush some dirt off of her baggy black cargo pants. The wind blew and her long black braid and white bandana swayed a little. She reached down, picked up her knapsack, and slung it over one shoulder. As she turned to leave Hiei stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" He inquired coldly. She turned and looked quizzically at him with pale blue eyes.

"Is my name any of your business?"

"Just tell me!"

"No! Look, thanks for getting that guy off my scent, but that doesn't mean I owe you anything!" Then she turned and left. Hiei just stood there.

Now I really think she's familiar.

Hiei put her in the back of his mind and went back to the hotel. The city was too noisy for him to think.

Back at the hotel, Hiei scared everyone out of the living room so he could think. As he paced around the room he heard something in his head. Another telepath was close.

Man, he was strange! It was nice of him to help and all, but God he's pushy! Almost reminds me of . . .

No, it can't be, Hiei thought to himself.

Hey! He thought to her.

"It's that guy from the alley." She said a loud.

Hello? Is anyone there?

WHAT?

Tell me your name! I think I know you.

Names Rowin, Rowin Sakado. What's it to you?

Rowin? Rowin, its Hiei.

What? Hiei that was you?

Tell me where you are.

I'm on the third floor of the hotel on the edge of the forest. Room C4.

Oh, God!

What?

You're two doors down.

You're kidding me!

Walk out into the hallway.

Okay.

Hiei stepped into the hallway and there she was. Standing there, knapsack in hand, smiling at him.

"Hiei, it's been awhile. Looking good."

"Rowin, over a century I think. You look well."

"Thanks. Best complement I can get out of you I guess. Oh yeah! By the way, I'm human now."

"What! From what I remember you didn't do a lot of damage as a demon. Except for the last time I saw you. How did you become a human?" Hiei was a little upset to find his former comrade, who was about as ruthless and cunning as he, a human.

"Uh . . ."

"Hiei, come in! Dinner's ready!" Botan paused as she saw Rowin, "Oh. Hello, my name is Botan. Are you a friend of Hiei's?"

Hiei and Rowin exchanged glances.

"Um, yeah. You could say that, I guess."

"Really? I'm surprised Hiei had any other friends besides us. Would you like to come in? Dinner's ready."

"Alright," Rowin followed Hiei in after Botan. Everyone was sitting in the living room with plates piled high.

"Let me introduce you to everyone!" exclaimed Botan. She pointed to everyone in turn.

"That's Yusuke, Kaeko, Yusuke's girl friend," Kaeko blushed.

"Botan! She's not my girl friend!"

"Ha, ha. Okay Yusuke. That's Kuwabara, and Kurama."

"Pu!"

"Oh! I almost forgot. That little blue thing on Yusuke's head is his spirit beast, Pu! That's Shizuru, Kuwabara's sister. And this is Yukina, Hiei's," All of a sudden Botan went straight as a board. Hiei quickly stopped her from finishing that sentence.

"Hello everyone. My name is Rowin Sakado." Then, without warning, something white with black stripes climbed out of Rowin's knapsack and dashed for Kuwabara's plate of food.

"Hitomi!" Rowin exclaimed. Hitomi raised her pale blue eyes to Kuwabara.

"A kitty! Yeay! Can I hold it? Can I, can I, can I?" Kuwabara rambled.

"Get away from my spirit beast!" Rowin exclaimed, grabbing Hitomi up in her arms. Hitomi greatly resembled a cat. She was very small, and was white with black stripes and had big blue eyes. Just like Rowin's. Since she is a spirit beast she mirrors Rowin's emotions. So when Rowin is angry or pissed off Hitomi grows a little in size. To the size of a normal house cat. Yusuke looked from Hitomi to Pu.

Why does her spirit beast look cooler than mine? Yusuke thought to himself

"Spirit beast? How could you have one? If you're friends with Hiei you must be a demon." He asked.

"Former demon. I used to be a shadow demon till I pissed off the wrong person. And the little old hag turned me into a human! I had to go through the whole "ordeal" thing and got Hitomi."

"Who did you get so mad that they'd turn you into a human?" Kaeko asked shyly.

"That witch Genkai! Why, if I had another shot at her I'd. . ."

"You'd what?" Genkai croaked. Rowin turned around and jumped back.

"Genkai! What on earth?"

"So how's humanity treating you, Rowin. Don't you just love it?"

"Shut up you old hag! I'm sick of you!" Rowin sneered. Genkai chuckled a little.

"Good. Now all of you keep it down!" she turned and went back to her room.

"Ah! I hate her!"

"Don't we all?" snorted Yusuke, "Come on and eat something. Some of us have to fight tomorrow."

"That's right. So everyone eat up. And get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day." Botan said with much concern.

So everyone sat down and had a good meal. When the meal was finally over Rowin beaconed silently to Hiei.

Hiei, want a little training for tomorrow? Hiei raised an eyebrow at her. Come out into the forest with me. Bring your sword.

"Hey, Kuwabara! You like cats? Good. Watch Hitomi for me, ok. Thanks!" With that she grabbed Hiei by the wrist and practically dragged him from the room.

Botan giggled, "I wonder where they're going."

In about five minutes Rowin led Hiei to a secluded clearing in the forest. It was close to the hotel, but far enough for privacy.

"Only physical attacks Hiei. No spirit attacks aloud!"

"Alright. I could use the practice."

"Hey, check this out." Suddenly a sword materialized in Rowin's awaiting hand.

"Interesting. Let's see if you can use it." Hiei jumped high into the air and lunged at her. Rowin quickly stepped to the side, completely avoiding Hiei's attack. Her speed almost rivaled his own. But she wasn't fast enough.

"Pretty good for a human, but not good enough!" All of a sudden Rowin dropped her sword and clutched her side. Hiei had gotten a good swipe at her when her guard was down. But it wasn't too deep where she'd have to stop.

Slowly she picked up her sword. They started again. But as they fought Rowin reminisced about old times.

"Hiei, remember the last time we saw each other?"

"Yes, we were fighting that Spirit Detective with other demons."

"Do you remember what happened between us? After all these years, ahh!" her side started to hurt. She couldn't go on for much longer. "Do we still have that?" Finally they stopped. She couldn't fight any more. Rowin sank to one knee before Hiei.

"Yes, I remember. And no, we don't." she looked up at him with pleading eyes, "Not any more. Not only are you human, but you've grown weak as well. I could never be with anyone as weak as you." Then he turned and walked back to the hotel. Her eyes cast down; a small rage grew in her. He called her weak! But it was true, she had become so. She was mad at him for calling her weak, and at her self for seeing the truth in his words. She let go of her sword and it disappeared. Silently she opened her knapsack and bandaged her wound.

Back at the hotel room, Kuwabara, Yukina, and Botan were happily amused playing with Hitomi. Botan noticed Hitomi shudder, and was more protective of her right side. I wonder what's happening with Hiei and Rowin, she thought. Then Hiei walked in.

"Oh, Hiei! You're back! Um, where's Rowin?" she asked.

"Don't know, don't care. I'm going to bed,"

Hmph! He's grumpy as usual. But, I wonder where Rowin is.

It was getting dark out. Rowin put down her knapsack and her sword reappeared. Then all she had to do was train. One night of training made a lot of difference in her fighting.

I must get stronger!

She trained the whole night through. Pushing herself to the limits. The pain in her side was the reason she made herself go. It reminded her of what he said. She hated it. She hated him. No, no she didn't hate him. As a mater of fact she loved him. That's why she trained. Finally she stopped. The pain subdued. She leaped up into a tree and sat on a branch. Slowly she rubbed behind her neck, tracing the black kanji tattooed there. "Shadow." She sat there watching the sunrise. The warm rays felt good on her sweaty face. A cool breeze picked up. Her raven black braid and bandana swayed in the wind.

"Uh! I don't, blah, feel so good!" Kuwabara ran to the bathroom covering his mouth and clutching his stomach. He locked the door but everyone knew what was happening in there by the sounds he was making.

"I don't think Kuwabara is fit to fight." Botan said looking worried.

"Hey, Yukina! Can you use your healing powers on him?" asked Yusuke.

"Um, I'm not sure. So far I've only healed physical wounds. I don't know if I can heal an illness. It might take awhile."

"Great, just GREAT! Who's going to fight in his place?" exclaimed Yusuke.

"Calm yourself, Yusuke. It's not like this is the first time we've been down one fighter. Yukina and Kaeko can stay here and take care of Kuwabara, Botan will come with the rest of us." Kurama reassured him.

"You're right, let's go."

"You weren't going to leave without me were you?" Rowin said grinning at them. She stood there leaning against the doorway. Hitomi ran to her and jumped in her arms.

"I came to get Hitomi. I was also hoping I could come to the tournament with you." Kurama saw the bandages through the slash in her shirt.

What did Hiei do to her? He wondered to himself.

"Of course. But we must leave now!" said Botan. They set off to the arena. Kurama motioned Hiei behind the others. They spoke in hushed voices.

"Hiei, why is Rowin wearing those bandages? What did you do to her?"

"I did nothing. The silly girl shouldn't play with those stronger than her." With that he strode off with the others. But Rowin over heard the conversation. She turned to Kurama.

"Kurama, I'm fine."

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing,"

"Rowin!"

"I helped him practice for the tournament, that's all!" Kurama looked at her in disbelieve. She turned and ran to catch up with the others. He followed.

They got there in time to watch the team they were going to face in action. Team Yakudama. They were good, really good. Then Jurri called out Team Urameshi.

"Will the first fighters please step into the ring!" she said enthusiastically into her mike. A very large ogre named Hanya stepped in. Yusuke stepped forward, but Rowin put a hand on his shoulder.

"I want this one." She had a severe look on her face.

"What! You're not even on the team!" screamed Yusuke.

"Look, Kuwabara is out for the count. You still need a fifth fighter or they'll disqualify you. Ogres are generally very stupid. Let me take care of it." Kurama gave her a grave look basically saying your-hurt-please-don't. She ignored him and gave Hitomi to Botan. Then she jumped in the air, did a flip, and gracefully landed in the ring.

"I shall fight in Kuwabara's place." Jurri just looked at her. "Well!"

"Um, let's see what our judges think." Jurri looked up at the screen and waited. The judges agreed.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, the judges approve! This match will be between Hanya of Team Yakudama and, um, what did you say your name was? Rowin, ok. And Rowin of Team Urameshi!" The crowd erupted with boo's and cheers. "Go!"

Rowin's sword appeared in her hand. Hanya charged at her. She leaped into the air and jumped on Hanya's hunched shoulders.

"Huh?" Hanya was puzzled. He didn't know where she went. She jumped up and started bouncing on his head. Hanya fell to the ground.

"Stupid," she said lightly tapping him on the head with her sword.

Rowin stepped down from his massive block of a head. She had her back turned for a second and Hanya grabbed her. And he started beating the living daylights out of her. Some how she struggled free. Blood trickled down the side of her face. The wound Hiei gave her reopened and blood was flowing freely. She was struggling to stay up. Hanya ran up and hit her, sending her to the ground. Slowly she tried to get up. Hanya had seen her weak spot in her side and kicked there really hard. She rolled on the ground a bit and stopped still clutching her sword. It looked like she was done.

Botan was so focused on the fight that she didn't notice Hitomi in her arms until she started shaking in pain. Botan looked from Hitomi to Rowin. She glanced at Kurama helplessly. He nodded.

"Ha, ha," she croaked weakly, "You think I'll give up that easily!" Again she started to get up. Her spirit energy was almost gone; she had enough for one more attack.

"She won't be able to keep this up for much longer." said Kurama checking on Hitomi. Hiei, hearing this, looked from Rowin to Kurama.

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously. By now Jurri had started the ten count.

"One,"

"I afraid so." Hiei was getting worried. She looked like she wasn't going to make it out of the fight alive. He tried "reasoning" with her.

You fool! Stay down! You'll be killed if you keep this going!

"Two,"

No Hiei! I will not stay down! I'm doing this for you!

"What!" Hiei said aloud.

"What is it Hiei?" asked Botan. Hiei turned and gave her a piercing look. That shut everyone up.

"Three,"

Last night, what you said. I'm proving to you that I'm strong!

"You are strong! So please, stay down!" yelled Hiei. She smiled to herself. She painfully got to her feet and was trying very hard not to fall over.

Hanya started charging again. She got fed up.

"I wish I didn't have to do this but you leave me no choice," she raised a hand, palm up in the air, "REVENGE OF THE FURIES!" Suddenly a ball of blinding light shot up from her hand. Everyone gasped as they shielded their eyes from the blinding light. Shadows formed in the ring, and she became a shadow herself. She moved on the ground attacking Hanya from all angles. His punches were wild.

"Ha, ha! You can't hit a shadow, can you, Hanya? Raaaaagggghhh!" With a final attempt she knocked Hanya out. Rowin turned back into a human. She was bruised and bleeding everywhere.

"9, 10! And the win goes to Team Urameshi!" Jurri finished the count down.

When Jurri finally said ten, Rowin, spirit energy gone, closed her eyes, fell out of the ring, and her sword disappeared. She lay on her back, unmoving. Hiei ran to her. He scooped her up in his arms.

"Rowin? Rowin!" She opened her clear blue eyes. The sparkle was gone. She looked into his eyes.

"I, I love you." Rowin smiled and put a hand on his cheek.

"I know. Hey," she said weakly, "you know what's better about being a demon than a human?"

"What?"

"Death doesn't hurt as much." Her hand fell and slowly her eyes closed. Hiei sat there in utter stupor. A single tear fell from his eye. It splashed lightly upon Rowin's cheek.

No one noticed, but Hitomi had tumbled out of Botan's arms and was wobbling slowly towards Rowin's limp body. Finally she collapsed with her head on Rowin's arm. Suddenly Rowin's body started to glow. There was a bright flash of light emitted from both their bodies. As the light faded everyone could see that there wasn't a scratch on her.

"Mm, Hiei," she murmured. Little by little her eyes began to open. She smiled at Hiei. Then Hiei did something remarkable. He leaned in and kissed her.

Hiei slowly helped her up. She had an arm slung over his shoulder. Hitomi crawled into one of her pants pockets. Everyone looked at her in sheer amazement.

"What? Didn't I tell you? Hitomi has healing powers." Yusuke started to laugh. As the others caught on they began to laugh too. "Hey, could we please finish here!"

"Sure!" Yusuke said with glee, "This should be fun!"

At the end of the day they went back to the hotel. Hiei lay Rowin down on his bed to rest. He ended up carrying her to the hotel because she had fallen asleep. Hitomi crawled out of her pocket and curled up beside her. That day's round of bouts was over. Everyone fought. And, of course, the Urameshi team won.

Hiei left her to rest. After a few hours she woke up. Her body was still very weak from her attack. Kurama walked in and handed her a glass of water.

"Thanks."

"Would you like me to a little healing? Some of your energy should return."

"Again, thank you." She leaned back. Kurama lay his hands on her abdomen and a soft gold light was emitted into her body. She absentmindedly began to stroke Hitomi's back.

"How did you and Hiei meet?"

"Um, I think it was about a century ago. Before he had the Jagan Eye put in. We made our way through the Demon World killing demons to become more powerful. Well, at least that's what Hiei did. I, for the most part, sat back and watched. Other times if an innocent was near by I protected them from harm and made sure they escaped. He wasn't to happy about that."

"I can imagine." Rowin smiled. He removed his hands and sat on the edge of the bed.

"We had grown close after a few years." She picked up Hitomi and moved her so Kurama could get a better seat on the bed. Hitomi opened one eye, looked at Rowin, and went back to sleep. Rowin smiled, "Then one day a messenger came to us saying a rouge Spirit Detective was on the loose, killing demons at random. Apparently Koenma lost control and offered rewards to stop him. Hiei and I joined the fight immediately. The Detective put up a good fight. But in the end he used up all his energy to kill himself and all of us in the process. The blast was huge. I'm surprised even today that we survived. But after that Hiei and I were separated. I couldn't find him, he couldn't find me. Each thought the other was dead. So we went on. Finally after a decade or so I heard he was at large again robbing odd places with that idiot Goki. But before I could find him the "Genkai incident" happened. But I still had ties in the Spirit World after my little "transformation". That's when I heard about his sister. I didn't know he had a sister. I did a little research in Spirit World to confirm it. And since then I've been wandering around both worlds looking for him. And here I am."

"I'm impressed. You really must love him, don't you?"

"Yes, yes I do." She answered quietly.

"So that attack you used, it interesting. Please, could you explain it to me?"

"What? You mean Revenge of the Furies? Ok. I call it that because in some human mythology the Furies were the goddesses of revenge. They were said to come out of the ground and performed a terrible act on someone who has wronged another. When I became human I was able to keep some of my shadow powers. So, by sending up a ball of light I turn into a shadow on the ground. Then I spring up to attack. But the only problem is that I use up all of my spirit energy and life energy in the process."

"Brilliant! A little dangerous at times, but brilliant."

"Um, hello? May we come in?" asked Yukina shyly. She, Kaeko, and Hiei walked in.

"What is it?" asked Kurama.

"The others said that Rowin was hurt. I thought I'd do a little healing for her," The minute Yukina said "healing" Rowin's face went pale. A look of fright befell her.

"Get out! All of you. Get out now!" Rowin yelled.

"It's alright! I've done enough healing for this girl. All she needs is rest."

"But I thought,"

"Get out!" Rowin yelled again.

Hiei, don't let Yukina heal me!

Why?

Get them out!

"All of you leave!" Hiei said with slight malice in his voice. Kaeko and Yukina rushed out. Kurama walked towards the door. He turned, looked at Rowin, and nodded to her. She nodded back. He walked out and closed the door.

"Why can't she heal you?"

Every time someone tries to heal me with spirit energy a temporary telepathic bond forms between us. I can't control what the other person hears as they heal me. I know who Yukina is, Hiei. I didn't want to risk exposing your secret to her. Hiei looked at her in surprise.

"Thank you." He said sincerely. He turned to leave the room.

"Hey, Hiei,"

"Yes?"

"What you said this morning. Were you just saying that because I was dying, or did you really mean it?" He turned and looked deep in her eyes.

"What do you think?"