To make up for my absence, I made sure to stay up and finish chapter 10! Sorry for making everybody wait for an update! Hope you read and enjoy and hopefully I'll get some reviews! Thanks for waiting!

After breakfast the whole gang went to the beach that was just down a ways from Genkai's place. The girls were ahead of the boys, chatting away all excitedly; well, except for Kiren who was just trying not to get squished by the rest of them. The boys followed behind them in complete silence.

When they made it to the beach Botan, Keiko, Shizuru and Yukina immediately went straight into the water with Yuske and Kuwabara right behind them. Kiren stood at the edge of the sand farthest away from the water and laid out a towel to lie on.

Kurama walked up beside her with a smile on his face, "Not going swimming?"

She smiled at him sheepishly, "No. I'm not really one for water."

Yuske ran up to her, "What are you, scared of a little water?"

Kiren closed her eyes so he couldn't see her full expression, "No, I'm just not one for swimming."

Yuske had a questionable look on his face before he heard Keiko calling for him. He shrugged his shoulders and went to join the girls. Kiren laid down on her towel putting her arms behind her head to lie on and closed her eyes. Kurama sat down next her and looked over at her.

"Hey Kiren-"

"No."

He raised his eyebrow, "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You were gonna ask me about last night. And no, I won't tell you about it."

Kurama chuckled and looked back out at the others playing in the water. Hiei scowled at him from the tree that he was sitting in. He couldn't understand it but whenever Kurama got near Kiren he would start getting furious. 'I have to get myself under control. This is ridiculous,' he thought to himself.

Botan ran up to where Kiren and Kurama were sitting and grabbed Kurama pulling him up.

"Come on Kurama! You have to come join us!"

He chuckled, "Alright, it does sound like fun."

He took off the clothes he was wearing to reveal a dark crimson red pair of swimming trunks. He ran back to the others with Botan in the lead. With Kurama's absence, Hiei took it upon himself to leap down and sit next to Kiren.

Kiren looked over at him, "Hello."

"Hn."

She smiled, "I'm actually surprised you came. Yukina can get you to do just about anything can't she?"

Hiei blushed a little and looked the other way.

"Speaking of Yukina, I noticed something about her."

He turned back towards her waiting for her to continue.

"I noticed that her eyes are identical to yours. And she has the feel about her that really reminds me of you. She's your sister isn't she?"

She took his silence as a yes.

Hiei closed his eyes, "Don't say anything about it to her."

She blinked at him a couple of times, "She doesn't know?"

He shook his head, "And I plan to keep it that way."

She sat up and stared at him with a blank expression, "Why?"

He looked up at the very clear blue sky, "I was abandoned at birth and not allowed back into the village so obviously she wouldn't have known about me when she was born."

Kiren looked down at her lap, "Ok, that makes sense. But why won't you tell her?"

Hiei shook his head, "I'm nothing but a criminal. I don't want to see her face saddened realizing that she was related to a murderous criminal."

She looked out over the water, "I don't think she would take it all to heart really. You're not like that now and I know she would be proud to have you as her brother."

Hiei gave a deep laugh, "You obviously don't know me very well."

She gave her own chuckle, "Obviously you don't know yourself. I've seen the way you are with the others. Yes, you are still vicious with fighting demons that are against us, but I highly doubt you'd go on a random killing spree."

He blinked at her a couple of times and kept quiet. After a time of silence, he spoke up.

"What's the real reason you won't go swimming?"

She smiled, "Nice change of subject there. But sorry, I don't really feel like sharing."

He turned towards her to give a comeback but stopped when he saw the look in her eyes. They were showing held sadness and fear. 'What could she be afraid of?' he thought to himself.

She quickly shook the look away and forced a smiled, "I'm sorry, it's just really personal and I really don't wanna talk about it."

He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the others. Yuske and Kurama looked like they were in a battle of trying to dunk each other. The girls were splashing each other. He smiled when he saw Yukina laughing.

Kiren looked over at him and smiled herself when she saw his smile.

"She does look like she's having fun doesn't she?"

He chuckled a little, "That it does. Why don't you go join them?"

She scowled at him, "You're not getting it outta me that easily small fry."

Hiei gave her a slight glare with a smirk, "You're just as 'small' as I am."

She chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, save it."

They went back to a comfortable silence when all of a sudden Kiren had four girls standing in front of her blocking out her sunlight.

She blinked up at them, "Ummmmmmm, can I help you?"

Shizuru had an evil grin on her face, "Just wondering, you did wear your swimsuit underneath that right?"

Stupidly without thinking she immediately responded with, "Of course I did."

Within a split second of Kiren saying that, the four girls had her pulled up into a standing position and had her surrounded. Hiei backed away closer to his tree, afraid of what was about to happen.

Kiren's voice got really shaky, "Guys, what's going on?"

Shizuru had an evil look in her eyes, "We decided that it's about time you came and joined us."

Kiren got wide eyed, "No! Please! I really don't want to."

Yukina piped up, "Um, guys, she's shaking really bad. I don't think we should force her to come with us."

Botan smiled at her, "Nonsense Yukina, it's all perfectly fine."

Shizuru held Kiren while Botan and Keiko started trying to take off her shirt. Kiren struggled as hard as she could but it didn't seem like it was working. The commotion attracted the others and eventually the whole gang was standing around to see what happened.

Kuwabara leaned in closer to Yuske, "Ummm, do you think we should try and stop them? I really don't wanna feel the wrath of Kiren."

Yuske smiled sheepishly, "I don't really want to either, but at the same time, I really don't wanna feel Keiko's wrath. She packs quite a punch."

Kurama laughed, "You're in trouble either way. Although I do think the girls are going a little far."

Hiei walked up to stand beside Kurama, "Yes, I do agree."

Before the boys could interject though, ripping of clothing could be heard as Kiren's shirt ripped in half causing Botan and Keiko to fall flat on their butts with what was left of Kiren's shirt.

Everyone stood in shock at what they saw. Kiren was trying to hide herself but it wasn't working very well. All over her body were multiple scars. They basically covered her whole upper torso. There wasn't really any part of her but her stomach that wasn't lined with very deep looking scars. Most of them were jagged on the edges, looking like she had been cut many times over with a knife.

Kiren stood there shaking uncontrollably for a few moments, tears swelling up threating to fall.

Botan stood up, "Kiren we-"

Kiren cut her off with breaking away from the group and ran away in the direction of Genkai's house. Within just a couple of seconds she had disappeared.

Botan got a sad look in her eyes as she stared down at her feet, "I...I had no idea...I just thought that she was being silly with saying she didn't want to swim."

Tears started rolling down her face as Shizuru spoke up, "I can see why she didn't want anyone to see. She must have been so scared about what we would think and how we would act around her if we knew what she was hiding."

Kurama started walking in the direction that Kiren had left but he didn't make it very far before Hiei had a hand on his arm stopping him.

"I don't think so Kurama. Just leave her be and let her calm down a little."

With that Hiei disappeared out of sight.

Kurama smiled, "Really, then why are you going after her Hiei?"

Kiren just kept running and running with no real destination in mind other than being as far away from the others as she could. 'Dammit! How can I face them now that they've seen? I'm such an idiot!' she screamed at herself.

It was hours before she finally fell to her knees in a clearing somewhere; her legs couldn't carry her anymore. She hid her face in her hands, tears spilling over her fingers.

She punched the ground in frustration, causing a little bit of a small crater to form.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! I'm so stupid!"

"Why do you think you're stupid?"

Kiren scooted back a little at the sudden appearance of a voice. Her eyes widened when she noticed it was Hiei.

'No, no, no, no! Don't look Hiei!'

Kiren stood up and started running away again but soon fell backwards on her butt as Hiei appeared in front of her.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Why are you running away from me?"

She sniffled, "I don't want you to see. I didn't want anyone to see."

He crossed his arms, "Why not? It's nothing to be ashamed of."

She covered her face with her hands, "Yes it is. I'm hideous. And it shows a part of me that I'm trying so hard to forget. And now they won't look at me the same. Now every time that they look at me there will be a look of pity in their eyes and I never wanted that!"

A gentle look came into Hiei's eyes and he kneeled down in front of her putting a hand on her shoulder. He knew what it was like to be ashamed of something that happened in the past.

Kiren quickly looked up at him with surprise letting her hands fall to her lap, "Hiei what are you-"

He put a finger to her lips to silence her, "I know what it's like to want to hide and forget things that happened in the past, but really, you shouldn't be afraid of what the others think. These scars are a part of you and if there are people that can't accept that, then you have no business worrying about them."

They sat in silence for a while, Kiren's eyes closed and thinking and Hiei waiting for a response from her. Kiren's crying stopped after a bit and she finally opened her eyes. She hugged her legs to her chest and looked away from Hiei, unable to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that Hiei. Ever since I met you guys and started getting close to you, I've been so scared of these scars being seen. And that you guys would either give me looks of pity or even worse, ignore me."

"Hn, foolish as always aren't you?"

She looked up at him with surprise and then a small smile graced her lips, "Yeah, I guess so huh?"

He repositioned himself so that they were sitting side by side, "Care to talk about it? How you got the scars I mean."

Kiren fidgeted a little; unsure if she should really explain or not.

Hiei looked up at the stars, "If you really don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

She gave a soft sad chuckle, "I'm sure it's not hard to guess. I've acquired these over the years with many demons trying to get information of Mazuki out of me. They thought torturing would work on me. The more that they realized that it was working; the more they tried cutting me open. The cuts got bigger and deeper each and every time. Before I knew it, by the time that I learned how to heal myself, I was fully covered in these scars."

She hugged her knees closer as she continued, "Although, that's not all they did in trying to torture information outta me."

'I'm going to regret this, I know I am,' he thought to himself.

Just like he had on the roof the other night, he grabbed Kiren and pulled her against his chest again.

She gave a soft chuckle, "You sure you wanna be holding such a violated girl?"

He smirked, "Hn, I can let you go if you'd like."

She gave a small smile and shook her head.

"That's what I thought. Now, I have a question for you."

She lifted her head back so that she could see his eyes, "Yes?"

He looked down at her, "Why do demons think that you have a connection with Mazuki?"

She looked away from him, "Ever since we were really little, Riku and I were always scampering around taking down demons. Just like Yuske is thought of to be a type of 'boogyman' with the demons these days, back then, Riku and I had become the 'boogymen'. As the years went on, the demons that we encountered became tougher and tougher. But even so, we just kept on at it."

She turned her head to her lap, "It all started when we fought this one group of demons. There were so many of them but Riku and I had kinda let it get to our heads that we were invincible so we thought we could take all of them on even though we were so young."

He tilted his head a little, "How young were you?"

She looked up at him, "I believe we were about 10 or 11, I can't quite remember. The fight went on for what seemed like forever. We were getting their numbers down, but it wasn't without a price. We were getting pretty tired when it got down to just a couple of them. We were pretty beat up too. One of the demons attacked Riku and got her good."

She paused for a few minutes, "What happened?"

Kiren closed her eyes, "I'm not quite for certain. All I can really remember is having this surge of power come over me and then I blacked out. When I came to, Riku was hovering over me screaming my name. When she noticed I had come around she got a really worried look in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she asked me if I remember what happened."

Kiren turned her gaze up towards to the stars, "I asked her what she meant and she pointed around us. All the demons were dead and cut to pieces. I asked her what happened and she said it was like I was a whole different person. She said my eyes changed color and my voice changed. There must have been some onlookers nearby because it wasn't too long after that that all these demons started looking for us."

Her hands covered Hiei's squeezing them a little, "There were so many assumptions going around. Some thought that I was a descendant of Mazuki's. Other's thought that I could somehow summon her into my body and have her fight for me. Of course, I had no clue as to what they were talking about. Riku and I did some research on her and it scared me when I learned that she was an elemental demon considering I used elements myself."

She gave a small sigh, "That's when the kidnappings started; all of them trying whatever they could to see what the connection between me and Mazuki was. They always got mad when I told them that I didn't know anything about her or what they were talking about. Everything just got worse from there. They used all sorts of tortures on me. And when that didn't work, they resorted to something else."

Hiei tightened his grip around her as she spoke. 'Doing that to such a young child and then continuing it through the years disgusts me. And then she lost her sister in the process. It's no wonder she doesn't want to get close to anyone. She doesn't want to see what happened to Riku happen to anyone else that she might care for,' he thought.

She gave a small laugh, "This prolly seems pretty boring to you doesn't it?"

He shook his head, "No. It's nice to finally understand a few things. Thank you for telling me."

She nodded, "Please don't tell anyone else ok?"

He gave a soft smiled, "Of course."

She smiled and leaned her head against his chest. They sat like that for a while in a comfortable silence before Hiei spoke up.

"Do you think you can handle going back to Genkai's? I don't think you would really want to spend the whole night out here would you?"

She smiled, "No, I suppose not. Yeah, let's go back."

She stood up and started to walk forward but her legs felt like jelly and she started to fall. Hiei caught her and scooped her up against his chest.

She got a tiny blush on her face, "Hiei what are you doing?"

He looked down at her, "Well, obviously you aren't able to walk at the moment so I'm carrying you back."

She nodded as they headed back to Genkai's. When they got back Kiren stared at the door for a moment; debating if she really wanted to go in or not. She took a deep breath and opened the doors, walking towards the living room. To her amazement, everyone was there. She frowned a little when she saw all the worried looks on their faces. However, it seemed like no one had noticed her presence yet as a conversation started among them.

Yuske let out a sigh, "Hey guys, do you think that we should go looking for her? I mean, she's been gone for a pretty long time. Something could've happened to her."

Keiko stood up, tears almost sliding down her face, "I agree with Yuske. I feel so horrible for doing that to her. And I'm so worried. I have to know she's alright."

Kurama looked at the two, "I'm telling you she's perfectly fine. She wouldn't run out on us and I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself. We just have to sit and wait for her."

Yuske got a frustrated look on his face, "Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first few hundred times. But I can't just sit here knowing she's out there somewhere and could be in need of our help."

Kiren smiled, 'I really have gotten some pretty good friends haven't I?' she thought.

She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Hey guys."

The girls started crying and basically tackled Kiren to the floor, all flooding apologies her way. She let them carry on for a few moments before she started laughing.

They looked at her oddly, "Come on guys, it's alright. I just overreacted, that's all. As you can see I'm perfectly fine."

Everyone stayed and chatted for a while but then started to slowly dwindle away heading to their own homes. Kiren went upstairs, bidding who was left goodnight. Hiei went outside to his tree outside her window and was soon joined by the fox.

He leaned against the tree and closed his eyes, "So, Hiei, where did you run off to after Kiren left?"

"Hn, none of your business fox."

Kurama smiled, "Thank you for bringing her back. The girls were so heartbroken knowing that they had caused Kiren such pain."

Hiei scoffed, "Who said I followed her? She came back on her own."

'I highly doubt that Hiei. Without realizing it, you're getting closer to her than you'll let on,' he thought.

Kurama pushed off the tree and started walking towards town, "See you 'round Hiei."

He glared at his retreating figure, "Stupid fox."

Looking one more time at Kiren's window, he allowed a small smile to place on his lips before he fell asleep.

Unbeknownst to anyone else though was a figure watching the temple. He giggled in a high pitched voice.

"I knew it was a good idea to come here. I've learned many things."

He disappeared into the shadows, "Just you wait you retched girl. You won't be smiling for long."

And there's chapter 10! I know these two chapters that I posted have been relaxer chapters but I don't wanna end this story too quickly! Plus I gotta figure out how I'm going to write the next whole big thing that's gonna happen. I have ideas in my head of what I want, but again, not quite sure how to write it XD Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'm hoping for some reviews! Thanks everyone!