Time for the next chapter. Lets recap. Mika was dreaming.

In a calmer tone, Koenma said, "Have you ever wondered about your mother's knowledge of Makai?"

"She told me that they were Japanese legends," I told him.

"In such great detail? Mika, your mother is a…," he got cut off.

Remember now. Okay so here is what happens next. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: First Day With a Band of Thieves

I woke with a start. "My mother's a what?" I thought. Koenma hadn't finished. I had awaken and cut off our conversation. "Will I ever know? Stupid internal clock!" I yelled to myself. It was now morning and the sun shined into the room. I looked at the edge of my bed to see that Kurama had left me clothes. They looked like his clothes but light blue. I was pleased to see the clothes because I did not want the demons here to see me in my pjs. I got dressed and sat on the edge of the bed. Kurama had said that someone would get me, so I just sat there and thought about my current situation.

After a few minutes a knock came from the door. "Can I come in?" asked a female voice. I told her she could. The door swung open and a female demon walked in. She had red hair that was tipped orange. Her eyes were dark orange and she had pointed ears like an elf. I thought I saw something move behind her and realized that she had red and gold wings. She wore the same type of clothes that I was wearing except it was red and lined orange with a orange scarf. From what I saw I would have said she was a phoenix.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to stare?" she said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" I began.

"Stare? It's your human instincts. Kurama wanted me to get you for breakfast. Mika, is it?" she asked. I nodded. She continued, "Well Mika, the name is Artemis and as long as you don't do anything stupid, you'll stay on my good side." She smiled. "Follow me or you might get lost," she said, leaving.

This girl scared me slightly, but I didn't want her to get mad. She looked like someone who liked to kill. So I got up quickly and went out the door after her. I walked along side of her down the long hallways and just like with Kurama, I didn't look at her. I heard her sniff the air a couple of times.

"Funny," she said. I looked at her confused. "What is?" I asked. "Nothing. I thought I smelled someone I haven't seen in awhile," Artemis said. She looked solemn, not showing any emotion at all in her face, her orange eyes just staring ahead.

We walked through a set of doors and into a huge room. It was the dinning room because of the extremely long, low Japanese table that stood in the middle. About 500 demons sat around it eating their meals. There were only two openings, one in the middle and the other next to Kurama, who sat at the far end. Kurama signaled for me to sit next to him.

Artemis sat down in the seat in the middle and fought off a couple of demons to get to some food. I walked towards the far end, and as I walked I heard some demons whispering. "A ningen," I heard one say. "What is she doing here?" Asked another in disgust. I heard the word Baka a few times too. I sat down in my seat.

"Good those clothes do fit," Kurama said not looking up from his food, "I thought they would considering who they once belonged to." "Who?" I asked. "I'll tell you later," he said shoving a piece of food in his mouth.

I turned away from Kurama and stared at my plate. The food looked strangely like bacon, eggs, and sausage. I looked back Kurama confused.

He chuckled. "We all don't eat what you think," he said with a smile.

I carefully took a piece of bacon and put a small piece in my mouth. It tasted normal but I didn't want to chance it. I ate my meal slowly only taking little bites at a time. The demon acrossed from me, laughed at my cautiousness. I looked up and saw that he had long black hair with a gray stripe on the right. Black wolf ears stuck out of his head and his yellow eyes stared at me. He laughed again.

"No wonder you are so scrawny. You eat like a mouse," he said.

"Mericu, she is scared and you, my friend, are not making it any easier for her," said Kurama.

"Ningens scare so easily," he said and got up, then left.

After awhile almost all of the demons were gone, leaving Kurama, Artemis, and me. I was still eating when Kurama grabbed a sausage off my plate. "Hey, you have your own food," I said to him.

"It would have been cold by the time you got to it. I did you a favor," he said, popping the sausage into his mouth.

"Well I wouldn't have eaten so slow if I didn't feel like I was being poisoned!" I yelled at Kurama. I covered my mouth in shock. I couldn't believe that I had just yelled at a demon and one that could kill me at any second. I looked over and saw that Artemis was staring at me in shock. Obviously it was not a smart move to yell at the leader of the clan. I slowly turned toward Kurama.

Kurama shook his head. "I would not ever poison you," he said calmly, "And poison is not really my thing. It's more of Artemis'." He smiled telling me that it was alright that I yelled.

I got up and to help Artemis clear the table. I picked up the plates around me and took Kurama's from under his face, placing it on top. Kurama glared up at me because he still had food on his plate.

"It was going to get cold," I mocked and ate the bacon he left. I smiled and then headed for the kitchen, where Artemis had already started towards. I felt someone's hands on my shoulders and I stopped.

"That wasn't very nice," Kurama whispered in my ear.

"I'm only acting from your influence," I said and continued toward the kitchen door, leaving Kurama standing alone in the dinning room with his arms crossed.

After Artemis and I were done with the dishes, she told me something that worried me slightly. She said, "Kurama wants me to train you in basic fighting."

"Why?" I questioned.

Artemis shrugged her shoulders. "maybe he thinks you need to know how to defend yourself while you live here. Personally, I think it's a good idea. You're as weak as a newborn," she taunted, smirking.

I scowled at her. Being called different or strange never bothered me, but calling me weak is one thing I did not stand for. "Lets get started then," I said, still scowling.

"Your funeral," she said, "We'll train in the dojo downstairs." She lead me down a hallway to the other side of the hideout and then down a set of stairs. We came to a large room with a few potted plants near a window and not much else. Five demons were already training. They were pretty big.

"Okay, bozos, get the hell out! Kurama wants me to train the ningen," she yelled to the demons.

"We were here first, Artemis," said one demon, walking up to us.

"I said, GET THE HELL OUT! NOW!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Make us," said the demon. He regretted those words after what happened next.

"Fine!" yelled Artemis and her eyes began to glow brightly. She lifted the demon and threw him out the doorway where we came. His body could be heard slamming up against the far wall. "Anyone else?" Artemis yelled to the others.

The other demons ran out of the room and I could hear their heavy feet running up the stairs. I turned to Artemis, who had a evil smile across her face.

"My favorite part of training down here," she said. She walks out into the middle of the room. I just stood there, my feet frozen to the floor. Artemis laughed and said, "Scared?"

"N-no," I stammered, "Just nervous."

"Nervous? Ha. I can smell your fear," Artemis smirked, "You can act brave all you want, but it won't help you." Her mood seemed to change into a happier mood. "I'm not going to treat you like I did those guys. Kurama would have my hide if I hurt you. Don't know why. I think he likes you," she said with a smile.

I blushed at this comment. At the time, I didn't understand why because I didn't realized that I like him. I controlled my reddening face and said nervously, "I have no idea what you are talking about. You maybe a phoenix, but you're as blind as a bat."

"I'm as blind as a bat, huh? You are the blind one! But we are not here to have girl to girl chat. We are here because you need to know how to fight. So get your ass over here and fight me!" Artemis yelled, now in a harsh tone of voice.

I was shocked to see her angry again but I slowly moved closer. I put my fists up an stood in a fighting stance. Artemis laughed as she went to hit me. I turned so she only hit my arm, but it hurt like hell. I kicked her as hard as I could but she just stumbled back slightly and laughed. My fight with Artemis went on for hours. She hardly gave me time to breath. It was clear that I was getting my ass kicked and that Artemis was hardly trying. I got knocked to the ground and leaned against the wall for support. I was bleeding form my mouth.

Artemis stopped and looking at me said, "That's enough for today. You lasted longer then I thought. Normally a human would be out cold in 15 minutes. I must admit you are impressive."

I smiled at her complement. And felt more blood escape from my lips.

"And get yourself cleaned up! You look horrible and if Kurama sees that blood, he'll shed some of mine," she said, worried a little for her own life.

We walked back upstairs and I went to my room. I washed away the blood and laid down on my bed. My body felt like one big bruise. "If this was going easy, then I don't want to see her at full force," I thought to myself. The door opened and Kurama walked in. He sat down on the bed like he did the night before. I sat up and groaned a little.

"Heard you did well in your training," he said.

"If getting beaten to a pulp is doing well in Makai, then yeah, I did great," I said sarcastically.

Kurama laughed and said, "Artemis is one of our strongest thieves. She said she had to go to 65% power so she could fight a slightly uneven match. No normal human can last more than 30%."

"Than I guess I'm not normal," I said with a smile.

"I think you're right. You'll be training with me tomorrow. I want to try something," he said very seriously.

"What are you going to try?" I asked now a little scared.

"You'll have to wait and see," he said.

"Is Artemis always so…..moody?" I asked, thinking about Artemis' mood swings this morning.

"Yeah pretty much," he said and then looked down at his hands and became extremely serious, "She wasn't as angry as she is now. Artemis was a lot happier when Diren was around. They were best friends. And it seems that now that you're here, she is a little bit happier again."

"Who was Diren and what happened to her?" I asked but I didn't want to upset Kurama because it sounded like a sad story.

"I might tell you tomorrow," Kurama said and looked up at me, "But for now you need to rest." He got up and left me alone.

"Rest?" I thought. I was not going to rest. I climbed out of bed despite the pain and for the rest of the day I wandered the halls of the hideout. The place was like a spiders web of corridors. There were a lot of bedrooms, meaning that there were a lot of demon thieves in this clan. And that meant that there were a lot of demon thieves that I didn't want to run into. After a while I found my room again and flopped down on my bed. "Now it is time to rest," I though and drifted off to sleep.

Stupid ending for this chapter right? Yeah I know. I wanted to get to the next chapter though. (hey I rhymed) It is going to be pretty cool since chapter three is the chapter that Mika finds out about her 'family history'. Oh and when I mean Youkai demon I mean a fox demon. I think it really means animal demon so I'm just clarifying. Hope you like this story so far. R&R. And after Christmas break the next chapter should be ready. So be patient.