The morning sun hit Meilin in the face and she rolled over, not wanting to get up. She heard a gentle voice telling her to get up, but she ignored it. "Five more minutes…" she groaned, turning around from Wei.

"MEILIN, GET UP NOW!" a male voice yelled. She was used to it, and slowly got up.

"Alright Li, but I was going to ge-" she said as she looked around at her surroundings. She was laying in a forest, with four guys looking at her. She suddenly remembered what happened last night, and realized that it must have been Kurama, not Wei, telling her to get up. Looking around again, she noticed Hiei was closer to her, and she blushed. How could she think he was Li?! Standing up, she quickly brushed off her clothes and chirped, "Good morning!"

"About time." Hiei muttered looking at her with a glare. She matched his glare, with one of her own. I knew she'd get in the way he thought.

"Cut her some slack, Hiei." Yusuke said. "She is only 12 after all."

"Whatever." he said, walking away from the group.

"Jerk." Kuwabara muttered, watching him.

"Li is the one that caused your broken heart?" Kurama said, now standing near her. Meilin looked at him surprised.

"How did you…"

"It's written all over your face." he said, looking at her seriously.

She looked down at the ground, ashamed. Nobody read her like a book, except Li. She wouldn't allow it, and made a mental note to make sure that it wouldn't happen again. They all heard somebody coming toward them. The boys didn't seem to worry, but Meilin kept her guard up. She didn't want to seem weak, she needed to show them all she could handle herself, just like she had to prove herself to her family. A blue haired girl wearing a pink shirt and khakis with a bag full of food, came into the clearing.

"Hello boys!" she said happily as she saw them.

"Hey Botan." Yusuke said casually. She stopped short, when she saw the young raven haired girl standing by Kurama.

"Who's this?" she asked, completely ignoring Kuwabara's complaints about Yukina not being there with her.

"Her name's Meilin. She'll be staying with us for a while until she's ready to face her friends." Yusuke said.

"Oh, I see. Well then, you can have some of my food. I'll be staying with them so I can keep a track of where they are." Botan said kindly to Meilin, who smiled kindly to show her thanks. Then Botan added quickly, "By the way Yusuke, Koenma knows that this case might take a while, but could you finish it up in a week?"

"What?! A week?! Why?!" he yelled.

"You see, his dad would be very upset to find out that Olgin got loose. He's on vacation right now, and he'll be back in a week." she explained.

Yusuke ruffled his hair back. "Fine, we'll finish this case in a week. Kuwabara, Kurama, and I will take the south. Hiei and Meilin will take the north. We'll all report back here to this spot. Sorry Botan, looks like you'll be needing to stay here." he said as he stood up and put his hands into his pockets.

"Me with the child? You're kidding…" Hiei said.

"It's either her, or Kuwabara. You choose." Yusuke said with finality. Hiei glared at him and muttered something under his breath that only Kurama could hear.

"Calm down Hiei. It's not babysitting, she already proved to us she can handle herself." Kurama said, as he looked at Kuwabara wolfing down the food that Botan brought for him. Hiei rolled his eyes, and sighed before sitting down to eat.

- - -

"Listen Wei, I'll be out for a while, and I don't know when I'll come back home. Bye!" he called out as he headed out to find Meilin. The morning air was already warm, which meant that the day was going to be pretty hot out. He sighed, still angry with himself for being such an idiot. There she was, all alone, with no magic to protect her. Walking the same route he ran the other night, he found himself right back outside of the park. Eli was standing there, leaning against a tree, looking smug as usual.

"So, you're going to look for her?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, with an air of knowing.

"Of course, but I'm sure you already knew that last night." Li said, glaring at the blue haired boy.

"Yes, but even though I know it won't help, I'm telling you, if you go, you'll be putting Meilin in danger." Eli said, walking toward Li, with a sudden seriousness. Li stepped back, taking in everything he told him, but he didn't want to believe it.

"I would never put her into any type of danger. I'm just going to go and look for her." Li said, full of confidence, and stepped toward Eli. They were now face to face, looking at each other. One with hatred, and one with anger.

"You don't get it, do you?! It's because of your stubbornness, is why she'll be in danger! I'm telling you not to go. For her sake and yours."

"Well guess what, Moon, I'm not going to listen to you. You're right, I am stubborn. That's why I'm leaving and I'm going to bring her back." He walked around him, leaving Reedington behind.

Eli started to speak, which caused Li to stop in his tracks. "So, you're going to bring her back and think everything's going to go back to normal just because you apologized to her?!" Eli turned around to face Li's back. "When she comes back, you and me both know, she'll be a changed girl."

"Maybe that'll wake me up. It'll tell me that I do make mistakes. But it's still a chance I'll take. Who knows, maybe she'll still be the same Meilin…"

"You expect her to keep running to you? To keep hoping that maybe someday, you'll come to her?"

"No. I don't. I love her, not the same way she wants me to love her, but I still deeply care for her." Li looked at Eli. "Just because I love Sakura in that way, doesn't mean I'll forget about Meilin."

"If that's what you think, then your in for a surprise." Eli slowly walked away. Li stood there for a while, watching him. What does he mean, I'm in for a surprise?! he thought angrily. He quickly turned around and left, following the exact same route Meilin took.

- - -

"Remember, we're returning back here by sundown." Yusuke said, as they all left in different directions.

Meilin walked slowly behind Hiei, watching him. "You know, if you keep walking that slow, we're never going to find him." Hiei said, looking behind him.

She rolled her eyes at him, and gasped in surprise when he grabbed her and started running through the forest. Meilin watched as the forest went by in a blur of greens and browns. If Olgin was in the area, how were they going to spot him with Hiei going as fast as he was? They suddenly stopped.

"Why did we-" Meilin started, but was quickly interrupted by Hiei shushing her.

"I heard something…" he whispered. A doe came into their view, walking slowly, and then stopped to munch on some grass.

"You heard a doe! Don't be so uptight." Meilin said, while walking closer to it.

"Don't you remember anything? That could be Olgin! It' s the only forest animal I've seen so far!" Hiei said in a loud whisper. Meilin suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She felt ashamed because she totally forgot he was a shape shifter. How could she? But it was too late, the doe saw her. It stared at her with interest, and then, it smiled.

Did that thing just smile? No, does don't smile, do they? Maybe it was just my imagination… Meilin thought. In a flash, she was up in a tree, just as the doe came charging toward her. Surprised, Meilin looked up, to see Hiei holding her, and looking down at the doe.

"That's not a doe." Hiei said, stating the obvious. Meilin quickly looked down, to see it turn into Kurama. Hiei dropped down, leaving Meilin in the tree and quickly tried to strike the Kurama imposter, but it dodged his attack. Determined, Meilin dropped down and launched an assault of kicks and punches to distract the imposter. Hiei saw her nod toward the imposter, and he nodded, taking off, and slicing the imposter from behind. It turned into a glob of clay, before it disappeared. "It was just a dummy." Hiei said slowly, while looking at the spot where it disappeared. "Now he knows we're here…" Hiei looked around the forest cautiously.

"But, we'll be ready for him." Meilin said with a smile.

"You did pretty good out there." Hiei said, still not trusting her.

"Thanks, but do you have to say it like it's going to kill you to give somebody a compliment?"

"You don't know what I've been through." Hiei said, thinking that'll end the conversation.

"Try me." Hiei looked at her, a bit surprise.

Sighing, he finally said, "Alright, how's this…"

- - -

There was an old man out by the forest. Li saw him, and decided to ask him if he saw Meilin walk by last night. The old man heard him coming before he even saw him, and smiled kindly in his direction.

"Um, excuse me. Did you happen to see a young girl about my with long black hair in odangos, and red eyes?" he asked politely.

"Why yes. She was with four other older boys, and they walked in here." the old man replied. Li's eyes, became wide at the answer. He was afraid that maybe these other guys were kidnapping Meilin, or worse. She could be in there, dead. And it was all his fault. His fault, if he didn't kiss Sakura, then she wouldn't have ran off. "I could show you where they went. I was in the forest myself, camping." he said.

"Yes, that would be great if you would show me where she is!" Li answered hastily without a second thought. The old man led the way into the forest, smiling, with an anxious Li following close behind.

- - -

"I was abandoned." Hiei said.

"Why?"

"Because, my mother, an ice demon, fell in love with a fire demon, and had me. I was an insult, I wouldn't be allowed with her, because only ice demons could live where she did. So, they dumped me. Hoping that I would die." Meilin was silent. "I've learned to live with caution and to never show your emotions, your weaker side. Does that answer your question?" Meilin merely nodded, and could only watch as started to walk off.

A/N: I'm SO sorry for taking so long for uploading the last two chapters! I feel awful! But I do hope you enjoyed the chapter! I worked hard on it. Since my last fanfic is complete, I can finally devote my full attention to this one. That is, until I work on I Will Love You Always' sequel. But, I'm sure I won't be working on that one for about another month. Sorry about that! Anyways, thanks JupiterLover for reviewing. I'm sorry, but I can't write the Kurama/Lita fic. I'm planning on writing a Cowboy Bebop fic as well, and since school is starting, I'll have less and less time to write. Maybe, after I finish the Cowboy Bebop fic, I'll write a Kurama/Lita fic, but it's not a sure thing. So sorry! Please review this chapter!