Disclaimer: Don't own YYH or characters of the show, Katrina is a fictional person.

Chapter 16: Her Life on the Edge

As soon as we arrive at the temple Hiei hollers for Genkai with such volume that I wouldn't expect from such a small body.

"GENKAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

She runs from her room, looking very indignant. "What do you goons want? It's 3 AM!"

Hiei merely points. Whatever color there was in Genkai's pale face left it. "Quick, boy, bring her here!" This is the first time I've seen her sound urgent. Nice to know her face isn't always dead.

Hiei lays Mie on a nearby couch. Genkai immediately reaches into Mie with her small gift of healing magic by pressing her fingertips on Mie's temples. She becomes slightly pale. "She's in real trouble."

"Noooooo..." I hear someone saying.

"It's all right Katrina, I think we can still save her..."

Katrina? I said that?

"Get Kurama and Yukina."

Keiko runs out to obey, obviously nauseated by all of the blood. Several seconds later Kurama trudges in, followed by Yukina's usual skitter. They say Keiko doesn't want to watch.

"What happened to her?" Asks a horrified Yukina, as she notices the bloody couch and Mie.

"I'll tell you later, just heal her!"

Yukina and Kurama kneel down, synchronized, and place their hands on her stomach wound. Kurama's green power and Yukina's blue-white power combine and start to heal her slowly. Mie stirs, but falls back into her semi-coma. After a while, the two healers stop and rub their aching hands.

"Nothing more we can do but watch and wait," they commented. Kurama begins. "I have some disturbing news, though. And it has nothing to do with her injury," he says, noticing my disturbed face.

"Whaaaaaatttt...." Everyone is drowsy in their reply, even me.

"This girl is a wind demon."

Time stops. Everyone gapes. "Are you sure, Kurama?"

"I recognized her as a Shinobi's cousin, who he takes care of, but I wanted to be sure."

Subject change! I am officially not ready to think about this. "Kurama, how did Beauty suck energy out of Mie? I thought it was a regular knife!"

"I think it must have been an illegal tool of the Spirit World. The victim's energy is sucked out of them into the holder of the weapon. It kills an ordinary human instantly, so that furthers my theory. We'll ask her if she wakes up."

Not if. When she wakes up.

Yukina speaks up. "Someone will have to take down Beauty. She'll keep doing this in her thirst for power, and it will only bring misery." Thanks for the obvious, Yuki-chan!

For a while no one speaks. "Keiko and I have to go back to school before we are missed. But what will we say about Mie?" I ask.

Quiet Hiei finally talks up. "I'll forge something, like a note from her parent. Shouldn't be hard."

Yukina: "Brother, I didn't know you could read!"

Hiei grows red. "Yeah, neither did I, Hiei!" Says Kurama and Yusuke, grinning.

"OF COURSE I CAN, FOOLS!" He grabs a pen from a table and he storms off holding the pen wrong in his left hand.

We all shake our heads. We decide that Kurama will take us back to school, and so he does at exactly 4:00 AM. Keiko and I eagerly go to sleep when we have snuck back into our dorms.

I don't remember where the day went. All I could think about was Mie, and I went to the bathroom every class (thereby expiring my hall pass for a month) to use the Commir to talk to Kurama about it. Each time I received the same answer, slightly more irritated each time, that she was alive but still in shock. I didn't even care that Beauty was clearly avoiding me.....I just didn't care.

Now it's nighttime and I feel a pang every time I look at Mie's empty bed. I should have been sucked dry, not her. Of all things to make a mistake on. I can't believe she never told me she was a demon also. She was going to tell me that she knew of my powers last night, but lost her nerve. She should have told me, because that could have really straightened things out between us. Also, I wonder how she found out. If she had discovered it because she'd seen me morphing, then someone else could have seen it, too. I'm still kicking myself for meeting him in the parking lot, in plain view. I was so...damn...obvious...I pound my bed angrily.

If she dies, I'll never forgive myself.

As I'm stewing in my guilt, the Commir glows green. I stare at it, not sure if I want to hear the news it inevitably brings. It could mean that Mie is...dead. Or maybe it could mean that she pulled herself out of the hole. I grab it slowly, my fingers shaking. I cross all of my fingers and toes and hope for the best.

"Speaking."

"Glad you picked up." It's Hiei. "Your friend, well, she's probably gonna make it. It's gonna take several weeks, though. And---" I don't hear the last part. I am too ecstatic and am also screeching. I wake up Keiko, and tell her the good news. Though she is happy that Mie will be okay, she warns me never to wake her up again. I grin happily and agree. I snuggle under the covers after switching off the Commir, finally without a guilty conscience.

A/N I'm thinking about wrapping up the crow-woman saga, and then she'll get to search for her dad in the Spirit World in Chapter 20. This whole thing was just a side quest, by the way. This was just a way of making her prove herself to the YYH gang:)