8:25 AM Yusuke's Room, Room 316, ACU UP Apartments

Yusuke woke up to the sound of vicious pounding on his door. He slipped out of bed, putting a shirt on, and walked to the door.

He opened it to see Ren with her hair half brushed. "I hope you weren't planning on skipping."

She brushed through the rest of her hair as Yusuke processed what she was saying.

"I was gonna sleep a little longer," Yusuke said.

"You're gonna get me in trouble," Ren said. "Everyone thinks we're in some kind of—"

She stopped. A blush rose to her cheeks. "Nevermind. Just come to class. Six more absences and you'll be expelled."

She turned and started to walk out. Yusuke grabbed her arm.

There was a flash and a zap of black energy, hitting her all at once. Ren fell to the ground, unconscious.

Shit…I was touching it! The feather! My hand was in my pocket and…SHIT!

He lifted her from the floor and carried her to her bed. She was breathing funny, all gasping and wheezing.

"Dammit! What do I do for you?" he asked worriedly, looking at how pale she had gotten. It was scary.

She jerked once. "AAAAAAH!"

Ren's eyes were still screwed shut, but she was screaming like it was the end of the world. It must have been the screaming that attracted Hiei.

"What the hell did you do to her, Detective?" Hiei asked darkly, a sword to Yusuke's throat. "You don't want me for an enemy."

"I-I didn't…" Yusuke backed off, hands up in surrender. "I never meant to hurt her. Hiei, she can't breathe."

Hiei sheathed his sword. He grabbed Ren's purse, and dumped it out unceremoniously. He picked through the contents, then took out a pink bag and unzipped it, drawing out an inhaler. He shook it twice, put it in Ren's mouth, puffing the medicine into her lungs.

Yusuke sat down in a chair next to the bed. "H-How did you know?"

"She's used that in front of me before," Hiei said. "The girl is asthmatic. Often she half-collapses, gasping for air. This isn't the first time I've helped her, and it won't be the last. Now, what did you do to her?"

Yusuke drew out the black feather. "I inherited this from Raizen. He used it to seal off her people back in the day. I-I didn't know…I was touching it when I touched her…"

"Damn it!" Hiei exclaimed. "You could have killed her, you idiot."

Yusuke dropped his head in his hands. "Will she be alright?"

"She'll live," Hiei said. "She is regaining the memory of her people as we speak from contact with that feather. You really are an idiot. You realize she might try to kill you. What do you plan on doing?"

"Telling the truth," Yusuke said. "I think it's time we told her who we all really are."

"Speak for yourself," Hiei replied. "I told her yesterday."

"WHAT?" Yusuke yelled.

"What do you expect?" Hiei said sharply. "It's natural that she would trust me over you. Instinctively some part of her must know not to trust a Mazaku. It is just how she is. It is how she will always be."

"Shut up," Yusuke said. "Those wounds on her. Are you responsible for all of her pain?"

Hiei glowered at him. "Don't make me the enemy. You are the only one who hurt her. Do it again and I'll kill you."

9:17 AM Ren's Room, Room 316, ACU UP Apartments

"Ren…"

I opened my eyes. I was standing on a battlefield.

A girl my age with black wings came down and folded her wings the same way I did.

"Hey, you—you did that thing that I do!" I said, excited. "And you have wings! But yours are black. But maybe that's like race or something—"

"Shh!" the girl's finger went to her lips. "I am Rin. I am the reason why you and I are the only Ahiru left."

"You mean you are real?" I asked, not paying attention. I walked around her. She had short black hair and dark piercing eyes. She was dressed in some kind of dress of feathers. "Are you cosplaying or something?"

"Ren! This is important! It's about the Mazaku!" Rin said. "You and Yusuke are trapped in an ancient battle."

I faced her. "Yusuke is a demon…so then…when I passed out…he did that on purpose?"

"Yes," Rin said. "He possesses my alpha feather. The last alpha I had. I gave it to Raizen, his forefather, to wipe out our kind, the Ahiru, forever."

"YOU WHAT?" I yelled, suddenly feeling a little sick. "Why? So all the death…those images I saw…the bodies…the holocaust of the Ahiru…THAT WAS YOU AND RAIZEN?"

Rin sighed. "Do you know what the feathers do?"

"What?" I was still mad.

"They are wish-granters," Rin said. "In my time, Ahiru were guardian angels. We sent shadows that caused pain and sadness away, and we helped people. There was a system and a code. But Ahiru got greedy. So the power was sealed so that it could be only used for selfless acts. If used selfishly, the Ahiru would die. Even if it was to save their own life. In this logic, an Ahiru couldn't use power on anyone they knew. We didn't have 'charges' anymore. More of us started to die. We were just too selfish."

"Why not just use a wish to turn all Ahiru human then?" I said irritably.

"I proposed that to Raizen," Rin said. "We had peace talks. He said we would be killed. He was correct. The feathers can be used for one other purpose, and you know this one. Pure killing. Our blood is poison to any other life form. So the Ahiru went to war to take over everything. The Makai. The Ningenkai. And the Reikai."

"So you did it," I said. "You killed all of them. And…then…who am I?"

"Since the power of the Ahiru is so needed by humans," Rin replied. "I sealed myself in a place outside of worlds. My job is to seal this power in a new human every hundred or so years. I warn you, Ren, do not corrupt your powers. Stay away from the Mazaku."

I woke up with my body feeling like it had after the last surgery I had been in. Drugged up and beaten down.

I tried to sit up, but a blurry hand pushed me back down.

"Can you breathe okay?" Yusuke asked, his voice cracking. "Hiei showed me…you have an inhaler…if you need it, I can…"

"I'm breathing fine, Yusuke," I said softly. I looked at him. For a demon who just tried to kill me, you look pretty remorseful. "You…what did you do…"

"Ren…" Yusuke had a look on his blurred features that I had never seen before. He was uncertain, upset…scared. Really scared. "You were gasping…I got you back to your bed…I…almost killed you…Hiei made you breathe again…that inhaler."

"You mean you don't know what you did?" I leveled my eyes at him. "Is that the best answer you can come up with?"

That's when I saw them. Even if Yusuke was a demon, he was still human too, and there were dark shadows descending on him. I recognized doubt, sadness, fear…all eating away at him.

I slipped my hand in my pocket and drew out a feather. It glowed, flashing the room like a camera, then shriveled up in my hand. The shadows were gone. Whatever they were.

"Hey…did you just…help me?" Yusuke looked up at me, confusion in his eyes.

"I don't know," I said. "Did you just try to kill me?"

He flinched. "I didn't mean to. Why did you help me if you know that we're enemies?"

"I helped you because…" I sighed. "Even though I know one day you and I are 'destined to fight'…I don't think I would wish the ending to play out any different."

I slipped out of the bed, still fully dressed.

"What the hell does that mean?" Yusuke asked.

"It means that if it was gonna be anybody…I like my odds with you," I said.

Yusuke smirked. "Ren…you aren't half bad."

7:24 PM Ren's Parent's Home, other side of the state

"Why are we even here?" Hiei asked me, annoyed.

"Well, I had to go home for the weekend, and I'm going clubbing," I said. "I know how you are about protection, so…"

"Clubbing? What's that?" Hiei said.

Shuichi explained it to him discreetly.

Yusuke sighed. "I'll be sleeping. Wake me up when it's time to go clubbing."

I laughed and walked off into my room.

An hour later I came back wearing an open-backed halter top and my sparkly skinny jeans. I don't do jewelry.

I felt a bit uncomfortable in something so…well provocative, cuz it dipped down really low in the front.

I stepped in the living room.

Yusuke came in around the same time, and his face flushed red. "When did you get clothes like that?"

"They're my city clothes," I smirked. "Like them?"

"Eyes back in your head, Detective," Hiei said.

9:02 Club Valice, Downtown

Yusuke watched Ren mingle with the crowd. She seemed to get on so well with these type of people.

She was leading the dancing, and she didn't seem to mind that every eye was on her. The lights flashing, the energy pumping, it was like she belonged there.

So it should have been no surprise to him what happened next.

The VIP room, closed off to minors, which she was for another three months, suddenly sent a runner to invite her in exclusively.

Yusuke grabbed Kurama's shoulder. "These Club Valice people are getting sketchy. They just took her back in the back. Where they keep the high-end illegal drugs. Why the hell did she pick this place anyway?"

"I don't know, Yusuke," Kurama said. "Hiei already went in after her. They didn't see him slip by."

Hiei returned in a moment with Ren. She looked pissed.

"What's your deal?" she said. "I just want to cut loose okay!"

She wrenched free of his grip.

"Hn…" Hiei said. "That bitch in there is trying to poison you."

"Sheesh…" Ren said. "I get it. I'll throw it out when I get home. They'll probably get all pissy if I do it here."

12:59 AM, Ren's Bedroom, Ren's Parents House

I sighed, spinning the vial in my hands.

"Going to try some demon blood?"

What do you want, Rin? I said irritably in response.

"That vial you have there…it will give you an edge against the Mazaku. You should use it to kill him."

Shut up, I rolled over.

There was a knock at my door.

I opened it. "Shuichi? This is late for you…"

"I think we are past all of this, Ren," Shuichi said. "Hiei told me you know. My name is Kurama. I am a demon, just like Hiei and Yusuke."

"But you give off human energy," I replied.

He explained his origin quickly to me. "I know you received demon blood. Your kind isn't meant to have something like that."

"Don't say it like that, S—Kurama," I snapped.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like you know anything about the Ahiru," I glared at him. "We aren't the same thing as you. I'm supposed to help people and I don't even know how to help myself. The one person who befriended me turns out to be my enemy. And I know my destiny. I know how the story ends. If the demon blood were to save my ass a couple times though, I wouldn't mind it. For now, it stays tucked away. And don't go telling Hiei."

Kurama looked at me with the face of one who understands suffering. He finally managed a bit of a smile. "I won't tell Hiei."