Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (*sniffle*) except Kaori.

(Side Note: Rurouni Kenshin fans that are reading this may think I changed Kaoru's name, but Kaori is a true Japanese name. )

(Another Side Note: Anonymous reviews are now accepted. Sorry about that! I didn't know I had only signed reviews allowed until now. )

btw, now I'll be able to switch around between thoughts of all the characters, since now it'll be more than just Kaori. It'll be more interesting. ^.^

Kaori's thoughts: ~...~ (surrounded in "~"s)

Hiei's thoughts: –...– -this is to avoid some confusion

Now, Kaori is about to meet face to face with someone we all know....~.^


~*~*~*~*~


Silent, she stares in shock, forgetting that she is being held upwards by her collar and her arm's flow of blood is still oozing at her side. Her mind seems frozen, only focusing on the fuming person before her. Only one word can be fumbled out of her mouth.

"You!"

Her mind's eye seems to have two images side by side, one a hazy image of the dark figure earlier, and the second the angry but alive male before her. As they match up, Kaori gasps in shock and relief, though the sound is bitten off short by a new threat: a blade of a katana touching her neck. Holding her throat stiffly, she looks straight into the dark ruby eyes of the newcomer, about her height, but obviously exceeding in power.

He begins to speak in a low voice, quiet but threatening.

"Who sent you here? Tell me now, or I will make sure your coming death will force it out of you. Tell me the name of who sent you...."

Bewildered, Kaori frowns, trying to figure out what he said. What did he mean? Sent? Wait...coming death?! She exclaims softly, then begins to speak with an indignant glower. Clenching her fist, some of her wounds reopen and bleed again.

"I never meant to crush you under that tree. I never even meant to hit the tree in the first place. *here, she stops to fume a bit and raise her voice* And I, Kaori Sasaki, am no murderer!!"

Eyeing her silently, he snorts then releases her, who welcomes the larger air flow back. She stands up, and the two stand face to face with guarded, cool expressions in their eyes, examining each other carefully and coming up with conclusions and questions.

~Who is this person; he's fast like me, but he has skill and much more grace in agility than I do. He guards his thoughts with an icy glare; his eyes are a deep red similar to my own. Why does he have a white band firmly tied around his head? ~

–Her speed is at a high level, but she is clumsy and unpracticed *eyes her bleeding arm*. Her name: Kaori Sasaki. Her spirit energy...higher than usual Ningen but still weak. She is of no use at all. She- –

Suddenly, all their musings are broken off by a shout.

"Yo, shrimp! What are you doing over there?"

Then, a quieter voice drifts over to them.

"Yes, Hiei, who is that you have there?"

Both turning, they see two people walking toward them. One wears a blue uniform and foolish grin, along with a funny orange haircut. The second, quieter one is a male of softened-red hair, emerald eyes, and a white uniform. Seeing them and suddenly remembering the meeting here, Hiei looks at them for a moment longer then walks over to an uncrushed oak's shade before speaking in as few words as he must.

"She knocked over a tree as I was resting."

Looking over at the fallen trees then Hiei, they immediately understand what happened, and while one of them smiles in amusement, the other, orange-haired one guffaws loudly. Narrowing his eyes, Hiei gives a dark look then looks away just as another person comes over to the clearing...only, this one was a toddler. Kaori, who hasn't said anything since the other two people arrive, smothers a laugh at the sight of the child walking in with a strange outfit and hands behind his back. However, laughter soon turns into shock as the toddler...he begins speaking in a slightly high-pitched voice.

"Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei. I see you're all here. Now where is Yusuke? Aagh, he must be late again! *starts muttering* Always late, argh, he'd better have a good reason this time. Darn, he's the leader, and he's so irresponsible. Fine, I'll just start without him. Your mission is to go to an old castle up ahead. There have been strange disappearances of humans around there, and I suspect it has something to do with that jail break out a while ago."

At this point, Kaori starts looking from each person to the next in confusion. This toddler, he talked! And the rest didn't seem to mind! What's going on...

Here, Kurama clears his throat, gesturing to the toddler to direct his attention to...Kaori. When the strange child sees her, he yells.

"AAAAAHHHH! What is she doing here?! This is supposed to be confidential you know!"

Seeing no one else volunteering to answer, Kurama coughs.

"She seems to have accidentally stumbled upon this clearing and injured herself."


Once more, the semi-peace is interrupted with a yell. All sit up in alarm and defensive positions.

"SPIRIT GUN!"

A huge slam is heard, and many yards away, more deforestation occurs with another yell of "timber!"

Soon after, a male, with very shortly-cropped black hair and a green uniform and brown eyes, comes up with a smug look, hands behind his head.

"How's that for a show? Sorry I'm late Koenma. I had a little bit of a hold up."

Although Kuwabara grins too, Kurama and the toddler, Koenma, look worried. Hiei sits back down again, keen eyes looking around them for more unexpected surprises. Only then, Yusuke (Kaori deduced this was him) notices Kaori and turns to Koenma.

"Hey, is it Botan's day off? Who's she?"

"Noooo Yusuke, she isn't supposed to be here."

All eyes turn to her, and she blushes faintly but holds her head high and glares fiercely. Although all of them (except Hiei of course) feel a strange reminder of Hiei in that glare, none of them mention it. Koenma whispers to Kurama.

"Ummm, would you happen to have anything to erase her memory a little? Just so she doesn't remember all of this? Heal her wounds too."

Kurama nods, then walks toward Kaori. Although she hasn't had much practice in fighting defensively or offensively except for some practices she has done herself since her foster parents collect artifacts, she still grits her teeth, sensing a form of danger.


Then there's just blackness....


Yusuke stands behind her slumped form, grinning.

"I thought it would be easier if she was asleep."

After smiling in thanks, Kurama bends over her, taking out a small seed in his hair, carefully tilting her throat to let a measured fluid squeezed out go down, then looking around. Kaori wakes up slightly, only in a foggy haze, seeing Kurama looking around him, then brighten as he finds a specific leaf on a bush near the tree Hiei was sleeping upon earlier. As he rubs it against her arm, she makes a slight sound, then falls back asleep as her wounds disappear.

After finishing, the Urameshi team groups around Koenma to recap on the mission. However, there was some interesting news from Yusuke.

"As I was heading here, a large demon attacked me. It was a similar to huge millipede, except all the feet were like needles, and strangely powdered wings. *here, he seemed to be thinking to himself* it kept on trying to powder me, but before it could, I killed it with my spirit gun. The strange thing is, when I turned back, there were only crushed trees. No body."

Here, he turns to the group again.

"The good news is, I passed by a stranded bus a mile ago. They seemed to be waiting for a spare tire to arrive. I overheard that one of the girls seemed to be missing, Kaori Sasaki right? We should just lay her nearby when she is about to wake up."

Koenma thinks about this, then nods his head, speaking with his so-called high voice of authority again.

"Okay then, it's settled. Hiei, why don't you do it since you're the fastest, and leave her there."


Suddenly, there is a silence, and Koenma, realizing what he had just said give a "Wahhhhh" of terror and whimpers behind a tree. Hiei, glancing around for only a second, silently tenses his muscles in anger and unwillingness, then relaxing and going over to the girl, picking her up with disgust that he has for humans. Sighing inwardly, he gets a direction from Yusuke, and he swiftly runs that way, only needing to keep part of his mind on his running, the rest on nothing much except for the mission.


As he bends quickly to avoid a branch, the sunlight catches upon something. Stopping, Hiei's eyes widen as they see the pearl gem necklace, which he immediately recognizes as a tear gem of the Koorimes. Briefly flaring up in anger thinking it is one of Yukina's, he quickly pushes away the idea, for the tear gems of his sister seemed to have a faint touch of her spirit energy. Staring at it, he touches it, then looks at Kaori. Noticing her spirit energy closer up, he shockingly feels a raw power inside her, except it seems to be covered when she is awake. Frowning, he begins to wonder just who she is. But then, he begins to run again, for he had spent too long thinking. Reaching the place, as he lays her down near a bush next to the bus, she begins to stir, and stretching her arms out, she wacks him accidentally in the face. Almost killing her at the spot with this, he changes his mind and heads back.


~*~*~*~


Hiei reaches the group again, and they begin to move once Hiei shuts up Kuwabara with a cold glare, for the fool had been grinning and asking whether Hiei stopped to have a romance since he took so long.


~*~*~*~


Meanwhile, Kaori....


She wakes up with a start, looking around wildly. She was in totally different surroundings, and alone. What happened? She had been knocked out. Looking down suddenly, she realizes that her right arm and cheek have been completely healed, and she wonders whether she had dreamed it all. Feeling the bump on her head however, she winces and shakes her head. Definitely not a dream. And now there was more to think about too...ugh. Realizing her necklace was outside of her shirt too, she carefully tucks it back in.


Then hears the frantic shrieks of her teacher and her classmates.


Author's Note: Yes! Now that's a cliffhanger. Soon, I think it'll be more interesting too. The adventure will finally start. The romance might too. ^.~ THANKS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED!!! I'm so sorry for the people who wanted to review, but now you can. Sorry if this chapter was a little shorter because of all the talking, but this chapter was difficult for me to write. Please mention if I made some characters OOC because I tried not to do so.


Kellynk: Thanks so much for reviewing! You were the first to review, and I felt happy after I saw that someone actually read my story.

FernLily: Thanks for the encouragement! This is actually my first fanfic, and I'm excited to have readers already.

Yuki san: YAAY! I'm glad you thought it was a cliffhanger, because I wasn't sure it was a very good one. The story will get more interesting soon.

Beckboo: Thanks for reading my story, and I'll be waiting for updates on yours. I'm waiting! Yeah.


THANKS ALL!!! I'll update soon.