Prologue:
My name is Ai. I was born Avi Keo-Leshi. If I could, I would tell you that I didn't bear scars, but if I did, I'd only be lying. Since I was a little girl, I've had to do things on my own. My family was poor and my mother had died during childbirth. My father tried his hardest not to despise me, but hate soon consumed him and he disowned me. I was blamed for my mother's death. He kicked me out and I lived in the forest. People of the village pitied me and they soon dubbed me the 'Forest Maiden'. Only I knew the forest as well as the wild that lived there and when someone got lost or needed help I would lead the way out. I would be they're shining beacon of light through a dark and stormy path. At the age of 12, I was raped. Despite what many would commonly think, my father did no harm to me. Instead, it was one of the village boys; he was only a year or two older than me. I didn't try to fight back. I knew that I couldn't. So I just lay there until he was done. Then, he spit on me, laughed, and ran off. I became pregnant and bore a child who died in his sleep two days later. The village people turned on me and I was no longer the Forest Maiden but now the slut. I was the whore, the damned child who killed her mother. Suddenly, they wished that I too had died during childbirth. I only had one friend, Mikio. We did everything together and he defended me when no one else would. One day, he disappeared. There were rumors that he was killed by a group of fighters, detectives that worked for the young, powerful prince, Lord Koenma. Since that day, I have sworn revenge. They took the only thing I ever loved with all my heart, the only thing that ever truly accepted me for who I was, and not from what he had heard. I swore on my life, I would get revenge, and I will have it.