KaitaKembi: Thnx to all who have reviewed my story. I know how annoying it can get with me continuously saying, review, review, and review. But I've found that's the only way to get someone to review your stories. After all, no one's reviewed my other story, Seven Artifacts. That's ok though. Now, read and review. Heehee.

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Chapter 6: Does He Love Me?

Katie bit her lip as she was thrown to the floor of her cell. The cell door slammed shut behind her. She sighed and stood up, dusting off her school uniform.

"Hiei?" she whispered and looked around. She found that the small youkai had dragged himself over to that wall and then gone unconscious again. But he had managed to make himself comfortable; he was using his cloak as a pillow.

Smiling, Katie walked over to him and knelt down. She took off her sweatshirt and laid it over him like a blanket.

"There you go," she whispered and placed a light cheek on his fiery forehead. Then she sat down beside him and thought about her past.

# * # * #

"Where did you move from, Grandma?" asked a five-year-old Katie.

"I come from Japan," the old women told her curious grandchild.

"Then why do you live here?"

"I move here when I am younger than you. It is a very long journey from Japan on a very big boat. Your great grandfather become very sick on the trip and die. My mother had a hard time supporting my seven brothers and me. But we manage. We became a rich, land owning, American family when my mother married a rich business man."

"That's right," said Katie's mother as she came into the room, "This family is very lucky."

* * * * *

Three years later, Katie's grandmother died. Two years after that, Katie's parents got a divorce. Finally, her mother couldn't stand America any more. She decided that she and a now twelve-year-old Katie would move to Japan. There, Katie started taking Japanese classes.

# # # # # + * * * * *

Hiei and Katie were running through a large field, holding hands and laughing. All Hiei could do was stare at Katie as she laughed, but he was ok with that. He was the happiest he had ever been in his entire life. Suddenly, Katie stopped running.

"What's wrong?" Hiei asked her.

"I'm winded," Katie said. She sat down on the grass and patted a section of grass next to her, "Come sit by me."

Hiei did as he was told. But, as he began to walk toward her, large storm clouds appeared out of nowhere. Katie looked up with disappointment.

"I don't want it to rain. I get cold when it does," she pouted.

"Don't worry," Hiei took her hand in his, "I'll keep you warm."

Suddenly, thunder cracked and lightning lanced out of the sky.

"Katie! Look out!" Hiei yelled and rolled away as the beam shot to the ground. He was able to dodge the lightning, but Katie wasn't so lucky. She screamed, and then there was silence.

"Katie!" Hiei yelled, and ran over to where her burnt body lay, "Katie, no," he rolled her over in his arms. She was limp, and her eyes were closed. "Katie!"

Hiei sat up from where he was laying so fast that it made him a little dizzy. He rubbed his head and looked around. Katie was sitting next to him, asleep. He smiled at how beautiful she looked, and then had a burning desire to talk to her. After all, the two had never even had a real conversation.

"Katie," he said and shook her arm.

She swatted at him, "Go away, Kaasan. It's Saturday."

"Katie, wake up!" Hiei shook the girl more forcefully.

Her eyes opened and she smiled groggily at him. "Morning," said cheerfully. Then she looked around and realized where she was.

"Katie, are you ok?" Hiei asked her.

"I'm fine," Katie said. Suddenly, her face split into a huge grin, "You're alive!" She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Hiei didn't know how to respond to this sudden show of affection, so he grimaced.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Katie said, pulled away quickly and covering her mouth.

"Hn," was Hiei reaction as he stood up and walked away.

Katie watched the youkai in his sudden change of emotions. Her eyes were full of longing. She wished he would love her as much as she loved him, but she knew he never would. Sure, he had saved her life, but he probably would have done that for anyone.

Hiei scolded himself for being so stupid. She had only hugged him. It wasn't like she had put him in danger or anything. No, it wasn't that, he told himself. He was upset that he had put his life in danger for this silly little ningen. But, it had seemed like a good idea at the time. And after all, she was kind of sweet and cute.

Katie, who knew nothing of his internal struggle, just figured that his mood swings were because he was somewhat bipolar. She stood up and watched her cellmate as he paced around the room.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked after a while.

"Nothing," Hiei said, "We can't do anything on our own."

"But you're a demon," insisted Katie, "Surely you have some power that can get us out of here."

Hiei stopped pacing. He had thought about it, but had then deemed it unwise to use his powers around a ningen. Still, since she now knew he was a demon, he thought it was safer. He nodded, coming to a decision. He wouldn't let anything happen to this girl. Or at least, anything more. He reached inside himself for some of his ki...and found nothing.



* * * * *

Kaita growled in growing aggravation as she walked past a tree with a small x on it.

"We've been here before!" she almost screamed.

"How many times before?" Botan asked as she twiddled her thumbs. She didn't like the idea of being lost in a dark forest.

"Five," Kurama answered for his more than distraught teammate.

Kaita sat down on a log and put her head in her hands.

"Are we lost?" Kuwabara asked.

Yuusuke rolled his eyes, "Oh no. We know exactly where we are." He shook his head, "Baka."

The team had been searching for two days now. Kaita had been assigned with navigation since she used to live in the area.

Kurama sat down beside Kaita, who was sighing in self-frustration.

"Don't worry, Kaita," he said in his soft, soothing voice, "None of us blame you for getting lost."

"It's not that," Kaita said, brushing off his comforting arm, "It's that they should be here. I put that x on the tree when I went to find you. The castle where they're being held should be just beyond here, but the area where it is is..." she trailed off.

"All bare?" Kurama offered.

But Kaita wasn't listening. Instead, she stood up, looking off behind Yuusuke and Kuwabara.

"Kaita?" Kuwabara asked, "What's up?"

"Of course!" she suddenly yelled, "Come on. I know what's wrong."

She raced off in the direction she had been looking. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her lead.

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KK: Well, phew. That was a long chapter to write. I hope you like it as much as I do! Now, I'm nearing the end of the part I've written in my notebook, so there might be only a few chapters before I stop updating so frequently (every two hours). Sry about that.

Hiei: This chapter is stupid, Kaita. You make me look like a mean, insensitive jerk.

KK: * shrugging * but I thought I should tell my readers the truth.

Katie: Heehee.

Hiei: Hn. You're not funny.

KK: * glare * whatever. Just because you have no sense of humor doesn't mean I can't tell a joke. Anyway, review plz. I promise I will update ASAP!