I'm trying to make these short and sweet for the reader's benefit :) I gotta show you some love for reading my first story. I'd highly appreciate reviews, I need them to learn better writing skills and if you have anything you want me to add, I'll talk to you about it and you'll be credited for it! Here goes.


There was a loud buzz around the small room. Everyone wanted to know and understand what had just happened.

"No shit, Kuwabara got his ass kicked!" Yusuke spoke obnoxiously above the raging curiosity.

Lydia was sitting in the opposite corner, her arms wrapped around her legs and legs pulled up to her heaving chest. She was like a tiny ball. She rocked back and forth, eyes squeezed shut and breathing heavily.

'She's in pain' Touya noted sadly.

The clamor rose when Kuwabara's arm lifted in attempts to get off the counter. Lydia watched a fair girl by the name of Yukina with blue green hair calmly place his arm to his side and give him a sweet smile.

"You need to rest," her adoring voice laughed. Lydia barely heard it under the other frantic voices.

No one was afraid for the man on the table top, or themselves for that matter.

She shook her head, frustrated at their stupidity. Her pulse jumped violently in her skin.

'I wonder if she's even human?' she shook her head.

'Surely SHE didn't do this?'

'Maybe that bagel Sunday was too creamy.'

Lydia tried in agony to block out the others' thoughts.

One unnatural pair of eyes was watching her.

"Where is she? I wanna talk to her!" Kuwabara sat up.

Lydia rubbed her eyes back into her head at the sudden rise of volume.

"Shut up," she pleaded softly.

"She's gotta know I'm okay – Of course I'm scared of her Urameshi!" they were trying to sit him back down.

"Please," she whispered, begging, Touya's muscles tensed where he stood in the door, "shut up."

"Children," a sharp voice warned, no body heard him.

Her head reeled in her hands, throbbing with unbearable pain.

"Would you people," her voice shook. Everyone was still complaining and thinking loudly.

A growl stirred in her chest, "quiET!" she shouted angrily, glaring through her dark veil of hair.

Sudden silence filled the room.

"I suppose now you can explain why the hell we're under such security with you?" Genkai assumed in her gravely voice.

Lydia stared all in front of her down coldly, anguish written all over her perfect face. She closed her eyes and worked to replace the mask.

"Well sit down," her voice had an air of sarcasm and she rose to her feet.

"What-" she cut the boy off with her hand.

Touya moved out of the doorway behind her and sat down front and center, not bothering to sit on the mat. Yusuke noticed Touya's intent gaze on Lydia and followed accordingly. Genkai was stone, she'd been waiting to hear this poor girl's story since the odd letter by a man named Giligan Prowd. Said man claimed to be a wizard and that the world was in great need in resistance to the pending danger coming out of Russia.

"In the universe," Lydia began slowly, "there are five realms. The human world, the spirit world, the demon world," her lips curled vilely around the those last two words, " the netherworld-" someone gasped, "yes it does still exist!" she chastised quickly, "and one with no name."

"So now our planet is a realm?"

"Well the spirit world and netherworld aren't exactly located on rotating spheres are they?" Touya explained.

"Um," Yusuke spoke up, "some of them are!"

"Those are fields in a realm, now sh!" Lydia still had not opened her eyes.

"In the Midlands, life was really quite wonderful," she folded her arms.

"There are wizards and magical creatures no one else has ever seen and wonderous land that…" she took a deep breath and sighed.

She squeezed her eyes tight shut of a second, then finally, slowly opened them to look at everyone.

"Dude, that's just like in the movies."

"Shut up, Kuwabara," Keiko covered his mouth.

"When I was seven, I was taken from my home in the Midlands by a man named Zakashi," fire erupted behind the false green orbs. "He'd found a rouge portal into the Midlands and sought out the most powerful of my kind."

"There are portals to all the realms?"

"Well no dip, Sherlock," Yusuke gave a knowing grin to the football player like oaf.

"Where are they?" the sweet blue green haired girl with charming red eyes wondered.

"The less you know the better," Lydia put a stop to the comments.

"He was after someone powerful. The one whose power could be used to destroy the essence of life and even against her," her tone was dead.

"Who has that power?"

"Me."

The temperature seemed to drop eight degrees as everyone tried to suppress horrified expressions.

Lydia winced at the strong change in emotion in the room that washed through her head as easily as water flowed over dirty hands from a faucet, but not nearly as painless.

"Why do I have the feeling you're going to hide yourself from them?" Touya asked Lydia carefully.

"You know I don't like talking about this. A life of redundancy is hardly exciting."

"You've told this story many times," the red head noted.

"And it never gets better," she smiled wistfully.

"He was a vicious fire demon with a knack for experimentation and wealth," at this the red head looked past Lydia to the window where a black figure sat, suddenly intrigued.

"Demons are always seeking out great power to use to their advantage," she ran a hand over goose bumps that had risen on her arm, "At this time, a new weapon was desired to defeat the three royal Princes of Darkness. This weapon would be able to obliterate anything it saw fit or was ordered to massacre. A machine, that do stunts such as killing entire armies, even the princes, to relieving any stress the men had by any – means," she bit the words. "What better 'specimen' than a woman, right?"

"Long story short: yes, they raped me. Yes, they tore me to pieces. Yes, they killed ones I love and forced me to do it. He strapped me to a table," her voice grew louder, "and tried to make me a fire demon."

"What!" the man with red hair choked.

"Kurama, what does that mean?" Genkai went stiff.

"That's suicide, fire demons have too much energy! The result would be unbalanced! The created demon would be highly unstable!" he rushed, wide eyed, his green eyes glistened with the horrid images that flickered across his mind of what possibly happened.

"And so I am," she leaned threateningly over the group, "and that's only part of the problem. To any who is born unto the Midlands, the fire demon blood will drive them mad. To some one like me… it's poison," she breathed, frightened.

"How was the process done?" the figure at the window behind her directed.

"That, I will not tell you."

"Hn." Lydia raised her eyebrows at the anticipating figure.

"Bottom line, always be on your guard when I am anywhere in the vicinity. DON'T touch me unless I permit it! Do not force me into anything. If I begin to shake, get Touya immediately and stay on my good side," she snarled.

A pinkish light shined into the room from the hallway.

"Oh, good grief! Am I late?" a tall cheery girl with a lot of sky blue hair entered the room complaining.

"Better late than never," Genkai smirked, "sit down and Lydia will continue her life story."

"Oh! That's right. You said some girl was coming over to gi-AHHHH!" she stumbled back at the sight of Lydia.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE IS?" she exclaimed.

Lydia rounded on her, dark wispy shadows appeared, slithering behind her in the air and a light wind seemed to pick up in the room, growing stronger every few seconds.

"Who are you?" Lydia demanded. Her hand twitched and Touya, alert, got ready to grab her.

"I-I'm Botan, haha. No one special," the deity of the spirit world stuttered and tried to compose her terrified posture.

"Don't lie to me," Lydia taunted and cocked her head to the side, reading the other woman's face.

"I'm a grim reaper," Lydia's shadows died away and she stepped back, "guide to the spirit world and guardian of the River Styx," Boton squirmed.

"Very well," Lydia allowed.

"She's a Confessor," Boton accused. Lydia stared at her.

"A what?" Kurama was still shocked.

Boton looked uneasily at Lydia. Lydia rolled her eyes aggravated and gave a sharp nod and crossed her arms as she began pacing the room.

"The Confessors are a race in the Midlands," Boton told, "They're in cahoots with the wizards. They can see truth and enforce it upon anyone. The Confessor's touch is the ruin to all things, ironically."

"Well, she's scary enough. Why is it ironic?" said Kuwabara. Yusuke smacked him in the back of the head, hiding a smile and cautiously watching Lydia, the Confessor.

"How do you know all this?" Touya asked, coolly, and kindly.

"Spirit World has to know of all existing areas. Though… we don't know very much of the Midlands. I'm still wondering why you aren't wearing your white dress?" she gestured at Lydia's outfit, "Did she tell you she's the Mother Confessor?"

Boton's eyes opened wide and she stopped talking as a hiss emitted from behind Lydia's teeth.

"Back to power," she said nervously and regained her teacher pose, "It's the power of love through their hands that commits the darkest man to his sins."

There were a couple of chuckles.

"It's not a laughing matter!" Boton snapped, "It's very dangerous and can kill some creatures."

"How about that," Keiko mused allowed, dazed, "Shizuru keeps telling me life is a knife through the heart."

"Hardly," Lydia's cold reply forced Keiko's soft brown eyes down.

"Wow," Yukina muttered, looking very sorrowful.

"Love is definitely not strong enough for proper damage or responsible for bringing down an army," his cold voice disturbed the silence.

The window beside the black clothed boy slammed shut and he had to jump to the floor out of its shuddering way. Lydia's arm was outstretched, two fingers pointed down. Pale, ice green eyes looked directly at lazy but curious ruby eyes.

"Love," she moved her fingers up and sideways. The short boy was lifted into the air and tossed against the opposing wall.

"Conquers all, will destroy all and think for a moment love has never had a purpose in fighting. You know for a fact countries fight for the love of freedom, life, and property. You know that a man will often see fit to die for the love he has for another, or for love he's never- had," their eyes never broke contact. Both subjects loathed the other in this moment, one face leaning toward the other ready to throw back anything the other had to say.

"The doctor sent after me when I escaped died in agony when my hands met his slimy throat. I- barely- touched- him!"

Kuwabara felt at his own throat, and Yukina put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Would you like to know his name?" she said with fake cheer, "It was Osteopath Shigure."

The red eyes widened in stunned fury.

"What?" he yelled in rage.

"Surely… you didn't think… that love would have killed him where all else seemed to fail to. I was tormented and tortured by him!" Lydia spat.

"Hiei," Kurama tried.

Hiei cut him a silencing glance and fell down off the wall onto his feet.

Under Lydia's gaze, he had been completely incapacitated and unable to even struggle away from the wall where he was pinned above the ground.

"I request to retire," the Mother Confessor asked of land lord.

"In the dojo to the right of the yard, second door on the left."

"Thank you," she bowed curtly.

Touya stood up.

"Thank you," he bowed to the old woman gratefully and followed hurriedly after Lydia.

"Was that really necessary?"

"He put himself up on that wall, all I had to do was look at him."

Their conversation died to the ears of those tiredly picking themselves up from the mats in the meditation room.


A cat almost died outside my window. It scared the crap out of me! But don't worry! … I checked on it and it's alright, just has a little limp now.