My vision was hazy as I watched Clayton's torturous plans come crashing down around him. He was unconscious from the pain of nearly having his head ripped in two. The man in black was standing over him. I don't when he lost his shirt, but the gash on his chest had clotted and he glared down at Clayton with a sneer.

The brown haired man was talking into some kind of compact mirror, but when I shifted my head I noticed the mirror was a screen. A woman with cotton candy blue hair was speaking to him, but I didn't catch their conversation.

Kurama had pulled me into a standing position, his arm around my shoulders to keep me up. He was speaking softly in my ear, but I wasn't processing the words.

I had just attempted to kill Clayton – I had tried to rip his head open at the mouth. I looked down at my hands again, noting that I still, in fact, had claws instead of the blunt fingernails I had chewed down on a normal basis. They were several layers thicker than regular nails, extending out past the tips of my fingers by at least a centimeter. The tip was curved downward just slightly and they were a light golden color. The tips were currently a dark red from the blood and flesh I had torn from Clayton, though.

There were no holes in the pads of my phalanges from his fangs anymore – it seemed I had finally drawn out that healing power that Clayton had so desperately wanted.

I was numb. Something was wrong with me; something felt incomplete. There was a nagging feeling at the back of my head, similar to the sensation of when a sneeze builds up in your nose and then just vanishes. I couldn't focus on anything else. Reality continued around me as if it were just a movie I had put on for background noise. I was aware there were several uniformed bodies that entered the building, going to Clayton and hauling him up. He was still limp as they placed glowing handcuffs on him and dragged him away.

Kurama's hands were on my shoulders as he ushered me out of the warehouse. I had to close my eyes at the blinding daylight. We had stepped through the doorway into some sort of atrium, the ceiling appeared as though it had been glass at one point although now several pieces were missing. The beams that had held the pattern remained. The vegetation had overtaken the atrium, wild grass growing through the cracks of the concrete.

I allowed Kurama to lead me a few more steps before I let my legs give way underneath me. I dropped so quickly, the red head didn't have time to adjust his grip properly to catch me. He made to kneel on one knee next to me as I caught myself on my hands.

I could hear the faint mumble of Kurama's voice in my ear again, but I made to push him away from me.

"Just… stop."

That was my voice. I was so tired, I just wanted him to leave me alone for a second. I know I should have been more inclined to have a proper reunion with the man, but I was too focused on my psyche seeming to break.

"Well she certainly looks worse for wear than you described, Yusuke."

There was a woman's voice coming from somewhere in the near vicinity. I would have said a girl's voice due to the ridiculously bubbly tone to it, but the choice of words spoke of maturity. I dragged my eyes up to peer around the brown haired boy, who I assumed was who she had called Yusuke. The two were looking at me, concern written in their frowns; the blue-haired woman from the compact screen was standing next to him. She was just slightly taller than him, but her dark pink eyes were full of worry where his brown were slanted in anger.

"I didn't see her in the light, she didn't look so bad in there."

I stared at the two for a long moment, curious as to how terrible I must have looked to the two of them. This man, Yusuke, had seen the marks from what I had been subjected to. If I still looked worse than the thought of all of my incisions, then I must have looked just appalling.

"I bet she feels worse than she looks." Oops, that was my voice again. I really needed to get proper control of what words were going to come out of my mouth next before I got myself in trouble.

At my remark, though, the blue haired woman had taken the two steps towards me and dropped into a crouch. Her hands were placed lightly on her kimono covered knees. "Oh, I am terribly sorry. We were talking about you as if you weren't even here, how rude of us!" Her head tilted as she locked eye contact with me. "My name is Botan and I'm very sorry to have to meet you under these conditions."

I was still trying to wrap my brain around her unnaturally colored eyes and hair in addition to her bright pink attire. Her ponytail bobbed as her head tilted again and I caught her expression of patience – she was waiting for a response.

"Oh, um… Ria." That felt wrong – the simplicity of the name. It was too short, wasn't it? There must be more letters there…

Kurama must have seen the deep frown that etched into my face and I watched him shoo Botan with a quick flick of his hand. She nodded once before standing and turning to talk to Yusuke again in hushed tones. Seeming to remember herself, she paused and pulled a water bottle from the folds of her kimono to toss it to Kurama.

The red head uncapped the bottle for me before holding it in front of my face. It took a few seconds for my mind to focus on the bottle, and a few more to get my hand to cooperate in grasping the bottle. Touching the opening to my lips, I dragged three long gulps of the precious liquid before taking small sips to coat my mouth. I needed to rinse the taste of blood and bile from my mouth.

Finally able to wet my tongue again, I licked my lips to find them dry and cracked. I sighed lightly, realizing I would either need to give or receive some answers as to what exactly was going on. I turned my head fully to the male who had also crouched on the ground next to me.

"Kurama…" His name rolled off my tongue in an all too familiar way, but I had just met him… hadn't I? The red hair seemed wrong on him, soft green eyes with sympathy overflowing from them – that didn't sit well with me. He should be cold and calculating, not warm and comforting. I would have been more comforted if he weren't so comforting!

I scrunched my nose up at the thought, my face screwed in the confusion of my line of thinking. Kurama's head tilted to the side as he stared at me and I realized the heavily canine influence of the action. That comforted me.

"I know you… don't I?" That was my voice again, but it sounded sad this time. And I realized I was sad. How could I have forgotten this man, the touch of his energy? It was dull and subdued compared to the memory, but it was all too familiar. He was my friend – before…

"Yes, Ria. You know me." Kurama's soft voice brought me back to the present as he stared at me with those misplaced green eyes. It wasn't that I didn't find him attractive – I did, granted he was a bit feminine in comparison to what I typically preferred, but I couldn't deny he was a striking man. But his looks felt wrong for the energy that was roiling inside of him and I couldn't seem to move past it. "You called me Yōko just a moment ago."

That sounded like something I would call him and, indeed, I could feel the presence of the kitsune I knew – agitated from my presence. I nodded in response to his statement and took another sip of water. I had fallen back on my behind and I pulled my knees up so I could hug them to my chest. I couldn't take my eyes off the clawed fingers that grasped the water bottle – those couldn't be my hands, right?

I heard light footsteps coming from the direction of the warehouse we had just exited. "Koenma's Special Defense Force has taken the filth into custody."

The deep, gravelly voice belonged to the man in black I had seen earlier. I glanced over my shoulder at him – he was still shirtless. His katana had been sheathed again at his side and he glanced around at the few of us left.

I could feel his eyes finally rest on me, so I dropped my own gaze back to the water bottle in my hand. I had to admit, I was curious about him, but my own mental health was taking precedence. He was hard to ignore, though, as his aura was a constant buzz at the edge of my awareness – like a bright light that you just can't block out no matter how hard you squeeze your eyes shut.

He stepped slowly towards Kurama and I, and I watched the kitsune regard him with a wary expression. When he had come to my side, he stopped and stared intently down at me. I could feel the heat of his gaze and I shifted uncomfortably at it. I frowned and turned to Kurama to ask him to leave. I opened my mouth to speak, but the man in black's harsh voice beat me.

"You look disgusting."

His tone wasn't malicious or sympathetic; it was entirely monotone. He wasn't trying to insult me, he was just stating a fact. And that, in its simplicity, irritated me. I glared at him from the corner of my eye. I couldn't help the sneer that escaped me, "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. You don't exactly scream 'sunshine and rainbows' either."

Kurama made a strange noise next to me, and my eyes flashed back to him. He was biting his thumb and attempting to hide a small smile. Yusuke also made a strangled noise, which I looked over to find him grinning and Botan was hiding her own smile. I glanced over my shoulder to find dark red eyes glaring at me, the corner of his lip pulled back as if to snarl.

"If she can come out of that crap in there and still be able to insult Hiei, she's a tough cookie!" Yusuke was cackling now, making no effort to restrain himself.

I could feel the man called Hiei's energy bristling not so much at my comment, but as Yusuke's enjoyment of it. I was slightly relieved not to have his heated glare pointed at me anymore, though. His mouth opened to grumble at the other man, but was interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from the folds of Botan's kimono.

She quickly pulled a small contraption out of her sleeve, which appeared to be a similar one as what Yusuke had contacted Botan through earlier. Flicking open the screen, she greeted her caller. "Koenma, sir!"

There was a muffled voice at the other end, sounding as if his mouth was full. "Botan, has the situation been remedied?" Botan had called him 'sir' – would someone in an authority stance really video call with their mouth full? I scoffed at the thought.

Botan nodded briefly. "Yes, sir, we seem to have stumbled upon a Maneshi Demon that's been living in Human World for quite some time. Unfortunately, sir, he had a young woman held as a captive here. He was…" Botan paused and her eyes flickered over to me. I turned away and glared at the ground. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts – er, non-torturous thoughts, non-torturous thoughts... "He was cruel to her."

There was silence on the other end for a brief moment before the voice drifted back, softer this time. "And who is this young woman?"

"She was the source of the strange energy you detected earlier, sir."

Koenma's voice was far more insistent this time, almost snappish. "Who is she? What is her name?"

"Um…" Botan glanced up at me, I could feel all their eyes on me. My brows were furrowed together and I knew I was deepening the "elevens" wrinkles I had on my forehead from frowning so much. I knew my name… right?

"Rrri-haa-mma." The whispered name that spilled from my mouth felt far more familiar than 'Ria' ever had. I rolled the 'r' with my tongue, and dragged out the last two syllables. "My name… was Rihama."

There was a pounding in my ears again as my heart began to race beneath my breast. My breath caught in my throat as I mulled my name over and over in my mind. I knew my name again...

I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to ponder over my name and why I felt so uncomfortable in my skin all of a sudden, but the booming voice from Botan's communicator pulled me from my thoughts. I felt the malevolence in Koenma's tone down to my very core.

"BRING HER HERE – NOW!"

Ahhh, I feel so bad this is shorter than the last one. But I wanted to get it out before I left for vacation next week! I have been absolutely swamped with my work load and life in general, so hopefully this can hold you over until next time!

Please don't be afraid to review and tell me what I can improve on, what you like, and what you'd like to see! Thanks for taking an interest in my little story! Until next time!

-H.