We walked into Koenma's office via portal, and I was instantly pulled into an embrace by Kori. "I was so worried," were his whispered words as we hugged. He looked behind me to see the wolf right behind me. "Um…Kimi, why is there a wolf behind you?"

"Oh that wolf?" I asked as I turned to look at my new pet/companion. "It was lonely and needed a new owner," I replied as nonchalantly as I could. It didn't work toward my benefit.

"What?" Kori asked, which was echoed by the young prince. Koenma looked at me incredulously.

"You are meaning to tell me that this is the same wolf that helped the wolf demon who kidnapped you?"

I squeaked out, "One and the same," before Koenma and Kori both exploded on me. If I were an animal, I would have had my ears pinned to my head and be on my back as my wolf did to me just a while ago. But sadly, I was not an animal and could not do said things. My wolf, however, seemed to sense my uneasiness and started growling low in its throat. Both males stopped their tirades to look at the canine. It stopped growling as soon as they stopped speaking.

Koenma was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke again. "It seems that the wolf has grown quite attached to you within this short amount of time, Kimiko." He sighed before he added, "I guess there is no getting rid of it now, is there?" I thanked Koenma though he waved it off. "Now, I need to speak to the Spirit Detectives so Kori, Kimiko, you are dismissed, and Kimiko?" Kori disappeared through the portal as I turned back to look at the prince with a questioning look on my face. "Try to not let the wolf make a mess of the house; it took me a while to get it the way it is now, and I really do not wish to spend any more time or energy to try and fix it." I grinned and disappeared through the portal, my wolf right behind me.

Koenma waited until the portal completely closed before he started to speak. "Mission well done boys, but there was something that really troubled me about this particular mission: Kimiko seems to need a lot more training that I first imagined. She seems to be coming along nicely enough with mastering the elements and should be fine on her own until her new sensei comes, but she seems to be seriously lacking in the areas of self defense and weaponry.

"Yusuke, Hiei, I need you to double your trainings with her. I believe hand to hand combat is more important at the moment than weaponry where Kimiko is concerned. That being said, Yusuke, you will train with her early in the morning and continue until lunch. Hiei, you will take over after lunch, and her training with you shall continue until dinner; I want this to be happening every day, with the exception of Sunday so she can have a day to recover and prepare for the rest of the week because she is still not used to this sort of training. Kurama, I want you to be her spotter. If she looks like she is in desperate need of a break, then you are to tell Yusuke or Hiei and they are to give her a short break to regain her breath and a little strength."

"What do you want me to do?" Kuwabara asked. After a moment of thought, Koenma decided that the best task for Kuwabara was to make sure that Kimiko rested and relaxed when she was not training. "Shrimp is also training her in speed, so does that affect anything?"

"Hm…" Koenma looked thoughtful for a few moments before he spoke, "If that's the case, then Hiei, you are to start your training as soon as you both have finished eating. Kurama, I want you take Hiei's place on Saturdays and train Kimiko how to sense energies. Yusuke, you start her training as soon as you return. Is that understood to everyone?" Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama all spoke their understandings. "Hiei?"

"Hn," came the fire oni's usual response.

I stared at my wolf as I sat on the couch relaxing for a bit while I waited for the boys to return; Kori was in the kitchen fixing us something to eat for lunch. I tilted my head to the side and spoke quietly to my wolf. "I forgot to check what sex you are…I wonder if you're male or female…"

"I am female and my name is Senko, though Ayame called me Sen…when she wasn't calling me 'wolf.'"

My eyes widened incredulously as I stared at my wolf. "D-did you just talk to me?"

The wolf nodded while Kori called, "Nope, but I was about to. Our lunch is done."

"Th-the wolf just spoke!" I was on the verge of hysterics.

Kori walked into the room and handed me my sandwich that he made. I did not respond to his presence nor the sandwich in front of my face; I was too busy staring at Senko in awe. "You know that animals don't talk, right?" After a few seconds of silence (during which my attention was wholly focused on Sen) Kori spoke again. "Kimi, I know you like your new pet and all, but you really do need to eat." His patience was wearing thin as I continued to stare at Senko.

"You really can speak can't you?" The look on Senko's face portrayed annoyance.

"Yes, I can talk—well, sort of—can we get over this fact and move on?" I nodded slightly, my mouth slightly gaped open. Kori looked between the wolf and I in a confused manner as the boys walked in via portal. "Good. Just a little bit of information for you: you are the only one who is able to hear me, as you are now my owner. Also, the boys who just walked in are trying to get your attention." The latter part was spoken with amusement. I blinked in repetition a few times and gave my head a little shake to clear it and regain focus to the topic at hand.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" I looked to Yusuke whose mouth was open. It appeared that I had cut him off…oops.

A scowl appeared on Yusuke's face as he repeated himself, "I said that because your capture, Koenma has decided that there should be a change in your training schedule." I sighed. I had figured there would have been a change. I then asked what the new schedule was. "I will be training you every day but Sundays in the morning until lunch, then Hiei will take over once the two of you have finished your meal and will train you until dinner is ready. Kurama will take Hiei's place on Saturdays though and will teach you how to sense energy. He did well with Kuwabara when we trained for the Dark Tournament a while ago, so I'm sure he will be fine." I was sure he just said that to reassure me.

Yusuke then continued to describe the changes to my schedule, "Kurama will also be with you when you train with Hiei and me to tell us whether or not you need a break. Kuwabara's and Kori's job is to make sure that you rest and relax while you can." He then asked if the new schedule was all right. I agreed on a sigh because it wasn't like I really had a choice on the matter. "Good. Your training starts as soon as you finish that sandwich of yours." I suddenly lost my appetite.

I stood and went upstairs and changed into my usual training clothes: a tank top and some yoga pants. Then I walked back downstairs to join the others. "You gonna finish your sandwich?"

"Who's gonna be training me tonight? You or Hiei?" Yusuke replied that he was, though he was confused as he spoke the words. "Good, then I'll eat my sandwich." Yusuke blinked a few times then started laughing a bit.

After I finished my food, Yusuke and I walked outside, Sen following us. Yusuke looked back when he heard noises behind us. He stopped and let Sen walk up next to me. "You wanna see your new owner get beat up, huh?" His tone was playful and light, like the tone a cat person would use when talking to a cat. He reached his hand out to pet Sen but stopped short when she started to growl. We both looked at her confused, me more than Yusuke.

"Sen, what's wrong?"

"I'm not going to sit around and allow him to attack you." When I started laughing, both of them looked at me.

"He's not going to hurt me; he was joking. Hiei's the one you have to watch out for if you are concerned about someone hurting me." She stopped growling, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at me. "She understands what we say, just so you know. And she thought you were actually going to hurt me." Sen then played the good doggy and nosed Yusuke's hand to get him to pet her. He squatted down and started scratching behind her right ear. She sat down and started wagging her tail. In that moment, she reminded me of a cute little puppy.

After scratching Senko's ear for a bit, Yusuke stood and looked at me. "You ready to start your training?"

Kurama watched from the kitchen window as Yusuke and Kimiko started to train. Kimiko's wolf lay down in the grass next to the rink and watched them as well. Kurama found it a little odd that the wolf did so but shrugged the matter off as unimportant, guessing that its behavior was due to a few years of working for and aiding the wolf demon, Ayame. A presence in the kitchen made Kurama turn from the window to look at the incomer. Kori stood against the cupboards adjacent to the sinks (that Kurama was standing in front of) and watched the training scene unfold as well.

"Hello Kori." Upon closer inspection of the younger man's features Kurama noticed an uneasy look in his eyes. "What's the matter?"

Kori sighed and walked to stand next to Kurama at the sinks and stared out the window watching Kimiko train as he spoke. "I'm worried about Kimi." Kurama was about to reassure Kori that Kimiko was save now that she was home and that nothing would be allowed to get anywhere near her, but Kori spoke up before Kurama could say as such. "I'm worried about Kimi because I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to stick around here and how she will react to my leaving."

"You're leaving? Why?" The fox looked toward the younger male in confusion.

"I want to look for Kimiko's and my parents. They have been missing since before I forced Kimi to run away to a friend's house; now that I look back at that, I'm very relieved that she went to Keiko's." Kurama nodded in understanding. "I know that our parents have to be somewhere in the Makai; there's nowhere else they could go without being tracked by their scent. The only problem is that they never told me anything about where they would be going; not even a clue." Kori sighed. "I'm worried that I may never find them."

"If you tell Koenma I'm sure—"

"I already told him when we first arrived. He also promised that he would send a team to look into it, and once I decided that it was time for me to go to just tell him and he would send me to where the information pointed."

"That was very kind of him." Kori nodded in agreement. "When do you think you will leave? So I can warn the others in attempts to help calm Kimiko down and help her get through the change."

"I think—" It was at that moment that a huge crash was heard and both males jerked their heads to look out of the window to see that Yusuke was grumbling and lifting himself off of the ground in front of a tree that had a large crater in it while Kimiko stood staring at Yusuke with wide, shocked eyes; her hands were covering her mouth.

"I'm so sorry Yusuke. I don't know what happened. One second I'm standing around looking for you and the next a cool rush washed over me and you were sent flying." I continued to speak in a rushed garble as I tried to help Yusuke stand and walk over to the bench near where Sen had been laying. Sen was now walking toward us and looked up at Yusuke curiously.

"I'm fine Kimiko…I was just taken by surprise when I was suddenly blown back by a gust of wind." A look of guilt crossed my features. Yusuke noticed so he added in a light tone, "You seem to be getting better at controlling the wind." A bubble of incredulous laughter escaped from my lips. Leave it to Yusuke to make a joke out of his pain. That was when Kurama and Kori came running outside.

"Yusuke, are you alright?" Kori asked as he took Yusuke from me so that he could carry him. I allowed it to happen without complaint; Kori was a lot taller than I and was more around Yusuke's height.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Your sister just gave me a run for my money." He then started to laugh. I shook my head at Yusuke; he really was a nut. Kori and Kurama both commented that his being fine was a good thing, though the tone they spoke in was a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. After Kurama had made certain that Yusuke really was fine, he allowed Yusuke to stand. Yusuke looked at me and grinned, "Wanna get back to training?" I nodded and sighed, standing. Sen seemed to sigh as well and then she laid down on the ground next to the rink again and looked as if she fell asleep as we continued to train.

Hiei watched the onna and the detective from his window. She was defiantly gaining strength, but she was nowhere near as strong, nor fast, as she had the potential to be…not that Hiei cared. Hiei had convinced himself that the reason he was watching the detective train the onna was to see if there were any improvements in her since the kidnapping; to see if the kidnapping had spurred her to improve her skills in any way at all. Deep within the fire oni—very, very deep inside—Hiei knew there was another reason as to why he was watching the onna train…he just couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly, which troubled the short (but taller than the onna, Hiei added with a slight mental smirk) fire youkai. Hiei then decided that he would try and figure out what the alternative motive was. And he would do so and annoy the onna as well, as she was annoying him so often. Yes…that seemed like a wonderful idea. Hiei allowed a small, barely visible smirk to surface on his lips as he continued to watch the onna attack the detective with weak punches (compared to what he had taken in his life).


Kimiko seems to be becoming stronger, and also has gained the attention of a certain fire demon :D. Anyway…I have finally decided how Hiei is to achieve his revenge on being called gay, but it will be taking place in the following couple of chapters…which sadly will be filler; however, they won't be too long, so there shouldn't be too many complaints…I hope. ^^; Anyway, Please review, as always requested, and let me know what you think of this story so far and, if you want, what you hope to happen in the future (the latter can be given via PM if you wish…I wouldn't mind :)). Please, please, please review. I will put a limitation on a minimum on the number of reviews I must receive if necessary; I know there are enough readers to do such…about 400 if I'm not mistaken. I will not enforce this (if I decide to anyway) until after the filler parts have been posted. Anyway…that's enough for now. Thank you all for the support. I love and appreciate every single one. :)