Chapter One

A cold and silent wind blows eerily through a bleak forest on the edge of the Makai. The moon, round and bright, was barely visible through the thick, darkened clouds that streamed the solemn sky overhead. The leaves glided noiselessly through the air and the ground slightly stirred against the cool breeze. All else was quiet and still until a the faint sound of decaying leaves falling to pieces emerged from the distance.

A young girl walks out into a clearing and stopped short of the tree line. The wind swept out and caught her cloak in its life. 'Where is that damn demon? He was supposed to be here half an hour ago', she thought irritably. 'He might have been caught if he is this late. Might as well head home for the night and find out what happened tomorrow'. With that she continued on her way.

She stopped suddenly, evidently broken from her concentration by an ominous aura arriving in the area. Stretching out her senses she felt that the on coming energy in headed strait for her. 'Damn', she thought irritably, 'I'm not in the mood for such a low class Youkai such as that'. Just then a demon about six feet tall with green skin and covered with horns burst through the undergrowth in a rampage. She sighed irritably and throwing off her cloak she drew a beautiful katana with an onyx hilt and a dragon design down the blade from an ebony sheath on her back. With one swing the demon that once towered over her small stature was cut in half, falling to the ground in a green bloody heap.

Sighing she said feeling very bored, "Not even worth my time; such a weakling".

Taking a piece of cloth from the corps she wiped her sword clean of the demon's reeking blood before sheathing it once more in it's ebony covering. She draped her cloak around her shoulders as she left, but stopped short when the moon moved from behind the clouds shining on a strange silver object nearly hidden under the demon's hand. Curiosity getting the better of her, she reached down and pulled the creature's fingers apart to reveal two small yet identical jewels on a thin chain. Slowly picked them up, she marveled at their beauty as they gleamed in the moonlight.

Suddenly a dark and malevolent presence filled the atmosphere sending an aching chill down her spine. The presence had a very high energy level to it, which made her very nervous. 'Could this be an alley of the creature I just killed?', she thought erratically. The winds shifted at that vary moment bring in the smell of demon and blood causing her to reach for her sword instinctively only to find it too late. Hot breath appeared on her neck panting from exertion. Her skin went cold. No one has ever gotten that close to her before without her sensing it. 'Looks I have met my met my match', she admitted.

She turned cautiously to meet the crimson eyes of a demon a few inches taller then she was, staring down into her demonic hazel eyes, seeming very pissed. He was wearing a blue, tattered muscle shirt covered in blood stains and black, baggy pants held up by two white belts with a katana strapped to them on his left side. There was a long bandage wrapped around his right arm that started from his shoulder going down to his fingers. There was also a white bandana wrapped around his forehead that had a very strange feeling to it, as if it concealed something very ominous and powerful. His hair seemed to defy gravity and was as black as the new moon, except for the white highlights of his bangs. Fresh cuts and burses covered his arms and face, as if he was recently in a very long and hard battle. His glair seemed to hide a deep and emending desirer deep within them, along with impending rage.

With a gruesome and shire voice that sent painfully, icy shivers all over her body, he said, "That...is mine".

Knowing now that he is defiantly is not in league with the other demon or doesn't care about its demise she regained her composure and with a sly tone, replied, "Oh. But I thought I was the one who took it from this demon?".

He began to get impatient with her response, his eyes seem to flair up as if on fire and answered with an even darker tone, drawing his katana as he spoke, "You will give it to me, or else I ...will ...kill ...you...".

With an evil smile, she replied, "You want it that badly? Then you will have to fight me for it. It has been a long time since I had a sparing match with someone of your stature".

He was getting very angry by this point and began to yell with irradiance in his voice, "I don't have time to play sword with a woman! Now give it to me or I will cut you in two, girl!".

She sighed and said sternly, getting irritated herself, "You have my answer", then turned from him to continue on her way.

She smiled to herself when she felt his energy jump high into the sky in an air born attack. Throwing off her cloak once again she unsheathed her sword and dodged his attack just in time. She was glad that she wore her not so loose clothes for her mission otherwise they would have impeded her movements in this sort of fight.

She smiled excitedly with a good fight impending and thought as she disappeared into the darkness with a blackish red blur, 'He is no ordinary demon, is he'. She caught him off guard with her unexpected speed and she swung her sword towards him with the intent to slice his chest, but only caught his shirt as he nearly escaped her attack. He did a back flip and landed several yards from where she was, examining his shirt.

He looked up at her and smiled excitedly and said while going into a defensive stance, "This is going to be interesting".

The girl smiled back and said, "Interesting would be considered an under statement".

With that the two of them both leaped into the air and vanished with their impeccable speed in a playful battle. The only thing that could be seen by the naked eye as evidence of their fight were small flashes of light created by their swords colliding in an endless array of skill and determination. The moon ducked in and out of the clouds as the battle presided uninterrupted by anything. The forest was completely quiet, given the noise created by their swords clashing together. The sound spread, echoing through the trees as if the trees themselves purposefully carried the sound around the forest to inform the other plants and animals that they were there, in the infinite silence of the night.

Until finally all the silence was broken by a crash created when the young girl hitting the ground hard, indenting the forest floor as she skidded across it. When she stopped the guy jumped on top of her, grabbing her wrists and sitting on her stomach, pinning her to the ground.

He said in an amused voice, "Do you yield?".

Struggling against his strength she retorted, "Yes, I yield". But he still held you firmly, smirking at her determination.

"Will you give it back now?", he said forcefully. "Yes, I'll give it back!", she barked getting irritated. He was amused with his ability to anger her with such little force behind his holding her down, but soon something else caught his interest.

With that he let her up and she handed the necklace back to him. He quickly grabbed it from her hand and, with a strange glare that she could not make out, put it back around his barren neck. The both of them sat for a minute absorbing the silence of the night.

'She is not a Demon, but she fights like one. That other thing is also curious' he thought as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that her hazel eyes had a glow to them giving the allusion that she was as he is, but her scent was nothing like a demon's. Her energy was off as well. It was more like spiritual energy then demonic energy, but it was not spiritual energy at the same time.

There was also the sleeping void of power within her. He found this most curious. If she had released even a minuet amount of it she could have destroyed him and taken what she wanted. His only conclusion for the fact that he beat her was that she had no idea that it was there, or at least how to tap into it. He saw it best to leave her knowledge of it as it was.

Finally breaking the quietness of the moment, the small demon asked in a more sincere voice, "Your name...?".

She looked up at him for a moment examining his face in an effort to see any malevolent meaning behind his question. Seeing only curiosity she replied, "It's Kori. What's yours?".

He struggle with a response and quickly stood up and began to leave. He could not decide wether it was good for her to know who he was, but his escape was interrupted by her voice stopping him. "Hey! That isn't very polite you know!", she called to him.

"Hn, neither is keeping something that doesn't belong to you...", he said sternly.

Her faced flushed a brilliant shade of pink in slight embarrassment, but then she glared at him when she saw him grin at her reaction to his words.

He turned from her again and reconsidered her question, and then replied, "Hiei... my name is Hiei".

With that he left without another word to her. Kori sat for a moment watching him as he left. 'Hiei', she thought admirably to herself, 'I hope that you're not that much of an asshole if we ever meet again'. A few moments later she got up herself and continued on her way through the dark and chill of the forest.