Disclaimer: I don't own the characters except for Kaori!!! (and a few side characters, but that's all) ^_^


Racing swiftly through the blur of greenery, Hiei's soft leather footwear grazes the ground as he paces himself, hands gripping the handle of his katana like always, heading toward a pinpoint destination. As his cape flows around him, his hair, jagged black with white locks in the front, flutters wildly without getting in the way of its owner. He halts suddenly in a small clearing of grass surrounded by tall, sturdy oaks and feels the sunbeams, unable to catch him at his speed before. As the light is absorbed into his dark clothes, he immediately leaps to a nearby tree with heavy shade, landing on a firm and unsplintered branch with only a slight sound. After a sharp look around with his narrowed, red eyes, he finds everything satisfactory and lies down, one knee propped and his hands by his sides, where he could easily reach his weapon. As his cape flutters freely, he begins to rest, still with his ears sharply tuned as he awaits the arrival of the others.


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Feeling slightly bored, Kaori Sasaki sighs as she feels the bus rocking up and down, jolt particularly hard, then smooth out its path again in the same rhythmic motion as it had been for an hour and three-quarters already. Glancing at her watch, she bites back another huge sigh of boredom. As usual as when she has time to think, her mind wanders in a swirl, ending up to one point. Her past. A wry expression lingers on her lips as she reflects that her history isn't a great one.


When she had been found near the shore of an ocean, she had been a growing baby with some short, slightly wavy locks of black hair and the wide eyes of a young child. She had been covered with only a blanket. Her foster parents told her that she seemed guarded and fearful, the actions which had been softened by the love of her adopted parents. The strange thing is that she knew her name was Kaori.


All that she remembers of her past is a crisp memory, blurred toward the end.


She had been held in the arms of someone crying in a soft blanket covering all of her except her head. She had peeked out and saw a tall, proud female figure, a leader of some sort, speaking in a hostile tone. This leader had said


"Not again. After what you saw what Hina's punishment was, it wasn't enough, was it? Her mixed breed son was thrown into the sea waters, and this will be the same fate of your unpure daughter. Why, why did you do it? Love? No, that is not sufficient enough to save your daughter. You have made trouble among the Koorimes. This is the price you must pay. Another part ice demon and part fire demon will be thrown into the waters to be eaten."


The next feeling had been a shower of circular objects on Kaori as she also had heard a cry, and knitting her eyebrows trying to think, she remembers the way she had wriggled then clutched one of the pearls in her hand, giggling softly in admiration of the shiny thing. Then, she had been swiftly silenced by the feeling of rising away from the warm, tight embrace, with which she had bitten the new, cold person taking her away. Kaori also had cried out in anger, but it was no use. This is where the memory was confusing. There had been a frightening feeling of falling, then a bump on her head which brought darkness.


There was nothing else to remember but pain then her foster parents.


All of a sudden, she is taken back to the bus when she hears a gun shot-like sound. Sitting up in alarm, her eyes, colored dark red in the irises, sharpen, looking around then ending up at the teacher in charge of this field trip. Looking at her watch, she realizes she had been dreaming for quite a while, and now the road was barely able to be seen, and a thick forest was surrounding them. Many students start whimpering, and some even break out into tears. The teacher cleas his throat trying to be heard above the noise.


"We seem to have a flat tire folks, but it's nothing to be worried about. We'll just get out the spare-"


Here, the bus driver seems to be uncomfortable, and whispers something to the teacher, who looks shocked then grinds his teeth.


"It seems that the driver has forgotten the spare tire, so he will go hike backwards a long way to get one."


At these words, the driver is about to whine, but he is silenced quickly by a scowl. The teacher starts again.


"Meanwhile, we will go outside the bus for some fresh air to wait for him to return."


The bus driver sighs then releases his pudgy fingers from the wheel. He pulls the handle which opens the door and gives a grunt as he rises with difficulty from the warm chair. Waving, he tries to smile, one which earns no return one, and starts to walk from the direction they came from.


All the students and the teacher climb off the vehicle, with an increasing volume of chatter.


Kaori, annoyed, realizes she has been glaring, then fixes a fake smile on her face. Her smiles were fake ninety percent of the time. Always, in her heart, she felt something was missing, and during particularly bad pangs of sadness, she would hold on to the pearl gem she wears as a necklace. She had this gem when she was found, and she felt a connection with it. Of course, she doesn't believe her memory was a memory, for it was more of a dream. There couldn't be such things as demons. Then again, she believes in them even as she thinks this.


Jumping of the bus with ease, she snorts slightly as she sees some classmates have difficulty. Turning away, she takes in the scenery around her in a quick glance, then she goes back and carefully studies it with awe. It was so wild and free. Closing her eyes, she breathes deeply and smiles slightly inwardly. Her spirit seems to rise, and she wants to run and run as quickly as she can, something she is rarely allowed to do. Her adopted parents strictly forbid it in some fear.


Kaori turns and eyes the teacher, who's back faces her at the moment, bandaging a scraped knee of a young child who had fallen off the bus steps. Taking this chance although she feels sorry she is taking advantage of an injury to run away, she makes sure no one is looking at her, then escapes in a blur. Running at a miraculous speed through the forest, she is unused to this speed, not her legs that is, but her aim. She is constantly hit by a few branches, at which she scowls at then continues. Finally after a particularly painful scratch on the cheek, she stops to brush some of the clinging leaves off her clothes. For this field trip, she had put on a navy blue T-shirt that has a curved, japanese sword on it, a grayish white pair of pants-not gray from dirt but a specific color which she preferred over the bright white which she has an aversion to. They are not too loose, but they are not constraining at all.


She laughs with a bit of bitterness. So much for that field trip to some strange, old, uninhabited castle. She didn't care too much for it, but she didn't hate it either. She just preferred to be outside on a bright day.


Touching her the fingers of her right hand to her cheek, she refuses to wince, then wonders whether it would be infected. Sighing, she decides to turn back, for she had been away long enough. Looking around, she freezes as she realizes that she does not know what direction is the way back. Feeling anxious, she tries to recall, then remembers passing through a small clearing. Looking for this now, she sees a clearing up maybe several yards ahead when she squints. She thinks


~Didn't I come from somewhere behind me though? But there's a clearing up there, with oaks around it and everything. No, but I don't remember so many oaks in that clearing I paused at for a second. ~


Shrugging, she decides to go forward, for she didn't have much of a choice anyways. She starts running, getting closer and closer, and she begins to feel a foolish hope that it was the same one she passed earlier. Because of this distraction and the speed, Kaori does not pay attention, and she crashes her right arm, the one which happens to be the dominant one, with the extreme impact into a weak yet spiked tree. The tree falls quickly, crashing toward one of the oaks nearby. Between red flashes of pain in her mind, her sharp eyes catch a dark figure resting on one of the branches the tree is falling toward. The dark figure seems to stand up sharply with strange alertness, and before Kaori can see what happens or call out, the tree blocks her vision from the figure.


Feeling panic that she killed someone, she almost breaks down, but she stops herself. For some reason, in all her life, she has never cried, and she is proud of it. She even remembers this record now in her pain. Foolishness yes, but she doesn't have much to be proud of anyways.


Feeling faint, she scolds herself to get a grip, for although her arm was bleeding profusely, she didn't need to be so weak. Finally, her vision clears, and her arm gives sharp pangs of pain with each throb. Walking over slowly to a tree, she makes sure it is not of the same type as the tree which hurt her arm, then sighs, leaning on it.


~I have to wait for my arm to stop bleeding. That's the first thing. Then, I'll find help or somehow find my way back. I killed someone. ~


This last thought is said without feeling, for she uses her skill of pushing away strong feelings, the one she has used all her life, to keep away the thoughts of a bloody body under the trees. She didn't need this now. It was all her fault. She shouldn't have left. The boy seemed to be strange though, with a white strip of cloth firmly around his forehead. He had black, strangely jagged hair and white in it. How strange. She was born with two strands of white on both sides of her face. All of her other hair was black. It must be coincidence or something. Sighing, she stops her flow of thinking and looks up to admire the birds, a good way to keep her mind off the now dull pain in her arm. She should bandage it, but she has no way to with the remaining arm.


A blur, black, is caught at the corner of her eye, and she tries to get up as quickly as she can, which turns out to be very slowly. All of a sudden, she feels her back pressed hard into the tree, and she is held upward by her collar. Biting her lip at the sudden pain when her arm bangs against the tree, she looks angrily at who is holding her. The person she had killed?! It couldn't be.


To be continued....yes, it will be.


Author: Hi! Do you like it so far? I worked really diligently on it, okay? *grin* I'm sorry her past is too coincidental to Hiei's past, but I thought it would be better for her to be like that. Besides, it was fun writing about it. I know nothing has been happening yet, but it'll be more exciting later once everyone has come in, and the adventure starts. No, this isn't going to be all romance, though it's kind of obvious there is going to be some. R&R please!! I'm going to feel bad if no one reviews, aw. Bubai.