Me: And it's time for chapter-...(whispers) What chapter is this?

Yusuke: Don't ask me, I hardly pay attention to your crap.

Kurama: I believe this is chapter nine.

Me: (Still whispering) Thanks fox. I don't own YuYuHakusho. R&R please! This is a flashback chapter, so it will mostly be in Naomi's pov. Flashbacks will be italicized.

Naomi's notes

Chapter nine: Flashbacks

I was standing on the side of a river. In my hand rested a wooden spear. I was tired, filthy, and hadn't eaten for three days, so I was willing to mortally embarass to the forces of nature by trying to fish. A fish swam nearer. My arm tensed and my grip on the spear tightened until splinters penetrated my hand. Bit I took no notice. I was only aware of my mouth watering at the prospect of the first bit of food I've had for days.

But the sudden presence behind me and the constant flaring of energy kind of distracted me from the needs of my internal organs. "You're on my territory!" a voice snarled. The ferocity of it made me jump. Straight into the middle of the river.

I knew how to swim, sure. There was only one problem. The river was deep, and the current was faster than I had first thought. It pulled me under. In my weakened state, I couldn't haul myself to the bank. The only way I'd survive was if I yelled for help. I broke the surface and opened my mouth to yell for help, but a wave crashed on top of my head, pushing my back under. Water rushed into my lungs, driving out all oxygen. They burned for ait, but each time I escaped the murky water, I was pulled under. Realization soon dawned on me.

I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.

What strength I had left me then and when the next wave pulled me under, I stayed under. Spots entered my vision. I tried to blink them out, but each time my eyes closed, they got bigger. I surrendered to the darkness. But just before I blacked out, I thought I saw a black figure closing in on me. Great, eaten by some underwater thing in a bloody horrible mess is a MUCH better way to die than just drowning.

Naomi opened her eyes and looked around the clearing. She realized her villagers were listening with as much intensity as each of the spirit detectives, including Hiei. She suppressed a grin and closed her eyes again, revelling in the memories of a more peaceful time of her life.

When I woke up, the sky was a dark violet. The horizon was just tinged with pink. orange, and blue, showing dawn was not far off. For the first time in my life, I was comfy. But experience has taught me lounge around in what might possibly be hostile territory. So I sat up and looked around. The first thing to enter my field of vision was a smoldering fire. Embers had long ago turned to ashes, but smoke still rose from it. A splash sounded and I turned again to find a body of water. I wasn't sure if it was the same river of my near death experience, but it wasn't the river that currently kept my attention.

It was the drenched half naked boy standing in it. The only reason I was able to fight the blush off my face was because I could just see the tops of pants poking above the water. His back was to me, thank god. I say this because that blush was back once I caught sight of scarred, pearly white skin and rippling muscles. Black hair that obviously had an issue with obeying the laws of gravity was on top of his head. He looked about my age at the time, not that I could tell. His arms were raised, as if he were waiting for something.

And guess what? I was right! His arms shot forward into the water, quickly retreating to pull out a huge silver fish wriggling in his arm. I admit, I was impressed. But that didn't last long as the fish jumped out of the boys hands, slapping him in the face before plunging back into what I'm sure it thought was safely. The boy growled and uttered a curse before following it, once again pulling out the same fish.

"Gotcha!" He whispered. But the fish wriggled of out his grasp again. But the boy caught the fish before it could escape back into the water. But again the fish escaped it's bonds. This repeated a few times, while I merely sat on the sidelines, holding down my snickering. The fish, thinking it needed to try different tactics, almost slithered over the boy's shoulder and into his pants. The boy squeaked and it was all I could do just then to not burst out laughing. He hopped up and down, shaking his leg to dislodge the fish. This worked, if you count knocking yourself off balance and splashing face first into the water working.

When he came back up, all self-control I had over my laughter went, WHOOSH! Out the window. His hair was completely limp, falling over his shoulders. The fish lay, now limp, in his arms. My laughing riot must have drawn his attention, for he looked over and glared at me with crimson eyes. My laughter subsided a little, now only small, spontaneous giggles. "I hope that fish is for me. I'm starving!" I said with a smile.

The boy 'Hn'ed and glared at me. "You're awake. You can catch your own food." My stomach growled and he raised an eyebrow.

I chuckled nervously as I poked my stomach. "I haven't eaten in over...How long was I out?"

The boy looked at the rising sun with an almost thoughtful expression. I couldn't really tell, since he kept his face stoic. "About four dawns."

I nodded. "Okay. Then I haven't eaten in over a week. Gods, my stomach must be caving in on itself!" I walked down near him but didn't enter the water. I think I had a perfectly good reason to be scared shit-less of it now. "And I would have eaten a week ago, had someone not, you know, scared the shit out of me."

His response was a growl. "You shouldn't have been hunting on my territory!"

I grinned apologetically. "Sorry. I didn't know this was anyone's territory. Do I have permission to survive now?"

The boy's glare darkened at my sarcasm and he 'hn'ed. "Only until you're fit enough to travel. Then get out."

I blinked at the suddenly empty space in front of me. "Thank you!" I shouted to nothing.

Naomi smiled at Hiei's red face. His eye had a tic in it and his hand twitched toward his kitana. Hiei's human teammates were currently rolling on floor in laughter. Kurama covered his face to cover his chuckles. Botan had her face pressed into his shoulder, her shoulders shaking in laughter. Hiei growled and glared death at Naomi. She grinned. "You were so cute back then! Not entirely sure when that changed though." She narrowed her eyes at him. "It was probably the first time I saw you kill."

Botan raised her head from Kurama's shoulder. Hiei made a mental note to tease the fox about it later. Her eyes sparkled curiously. "You didn't tell us that story, Naomi."

Naomi gave Botan a friendly smile. "Would you like to hear it?" All nodded eagerly. Except for Hiei, who glowered angrily at her.

It's been a few moons after I was saved by the boy with the weird hair. Seriously, it was freakish! I bet if you pushed it down, it'd just shpoing back up! I haven't seen him since he disappeared that day. Too bad, I wanted to try it. I'm almost back to full strength now. I always keep my word, so I'm getting ready to leave what's-his-face's territory when I trip on something.

Naomi grinned down at Botan. "Guess who it was."

Botan just stared at her blankly. "Uh...Hiei?"

Naomi's grin widened. "Nope!"

I glared down at what tripped me up, but froze in the process of getting off my knees. It was a head. The head of a demon, to be precise. It's eyes were wide and glazed over with death. But it's lips were drawn back, signalling it went down fighting. The demon's body; or I'm guessing it's this demon's body, since it was missing a head; lay a few feet away, mangled and broken. Both of it's arms were gone, hacked off by...something. 'What the hell could do this?' Then I spotted a trail of blood, leading away from the body, or what was left of it. Curiosity got the best of me, and I followed it.

The trail didn't exactly go very far. After about five minutes, the trail came to a burning clearing. Bodies littered the ground. And in the center of the destruction was the boy with the weird hair. He stood wobbly and clutched at his arm. A gash ran from his shoulder to his wrist, and blood trickled down his face, dripping off his chin. "What the hell?" I muttered. The boy's head whipped around to me. But the momentum made his stumble and he collapsed on the ground with a grunt. I slowly approached him and crouched at his side. He growled, but didn't push me away. He winced when I touched his wound and his growl grew louder. "Oh my god..." I whispered. "What happened to you?"

His answer was strained. "None...of your..." He never finished his sentence because he passed out against me. A growl made my head snap to the left. A demon had survived the boy's onslaught. It stood up, easily towering over my petite 4'5" height. It's eyes glittered menecingly as it's gaze landed on the unconscious boy in my arms.

"Well," It said in a gravelly voice, "It appears the Forbidden Child isn't as powerful as his reputaion says." He took a step forward and my arms tightened instinctively around the boy. The demon seemed to realize I was there for the first time. "Alright, girly. You gots one chance. Give me the Forbidden Child, and I might let you live."

I looked between the boy who saved my life and the demon who threatens it. I had a choice to save myself, or risk my life for someone whose name I don't even know. Whose ass do I save?

End Chapter Nine


Me: Alrighty all, this is my first attempt at first person. Personally, I think it's a good chapter! But I'm the writer, not the reviewer. That would be you lovely people. So please, review?