Well I've done it. I have updatedthis story. Applause. Read please. Thanks for those who review. It makes me feel loved even if it was only one.

   Chapter 2:  Unwanted Company   

          Ashley awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the gentle touch of the early morning sun. She'd been traveling for days since the attack on her village. Just how far was this house that Jin sent her to.  Standing up she streched and worked the kinks out of her arms and legs. She made an unhappy face as her stomach began to grumble.

 "Man, I need some food" she said to no one in particular. Finally acknowledging that there wasn't anything edible she continued on her journey.

While walking every worst case senario that could happen played through her head. "What if I never find the house and I starve to death out here?" Looking at the trees she envied them being able to survive on sunlight and water.

 Speaking of water she knew that she needed to get some. Her throat was becoming dry and the rest of her body wasn't functioning to well, to say the least.

As the day wore on anything her eyes focused on began to take the form of some type of food or water. The sun was once again hovering over the horizon. It was almost like it was waiting for her to find her destination. Almost like it cared about her, alot like Jin would have done.

She was immediately overcome with a feeling of dread at his name. She'd seen Jin fight before and he was good at it. He would be ok and that man would hopefully die or leave.  As quickly as the emotion had come it left. Leaving her feeling anger at Jin in its place she turned to a random tree and pointed at it yelling accusingly. "Why'd he make me go? Doesn't he know how important he is to me?" When the tree didn't respond she sighed heavily and moved on dragging her unnourished body along with her.

One thought that had been plaguing since she had made her escape was what did that guy want with her. He had kept saying she had a beautiful soul, whatever that meant. Jin had mentioned something about her not being told alot of things that she should have known.

She wracked her brain until the sun reluctantly set bringing the darkness with it. With the sun gone her source of light went with it and she usually stopped for the night. Not this time. This time she was going to find that house and she wasn't going to stop untill she did.

Hours later she was still moving along and making good time. Sadly her body was pretty much running on auto pilot because her brain had decided to relinquish it's duties to her stomach.

She stumbled around barely aware of her surroundings making the occasional noise or grunt as she manuvered through the trees. For some reason or another she took a sharp turn right and walked right into the huge thick trunk of a maple tree.

"Gaah" her voice carried causing any sleeping animals to wake up and give her unpleasent looks. "Who put that tree there" she questioned the birds who continued to give her looks that could kill. She was far from worried about them as she was fast approaching her limit. She continued walking as her body screamed for her to stop. She could actually feel her body as it stopped working and her legs buckled causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

Being out cold she didn't notice that there was someone with her. She didn't so much as stir as she lifted gently and carried into a home only a few feet away.

         "What the..." Ashley looked around to see herself in a large house and from the looks of it the people who owned it were loaded. She noticed she was alone even though the room was obviously set up for a party. She looked over at the banquet table and grumbled something under her breath. "Some party this is. They don't have any eats."

She studied the room a little longer. "Where am I?" she said without warning. No one answered and she knew for sure she was alone.

The sound of footsteps, other then hers, echoed through one of the halls. Looking in the direction that the noise had been made she waited.

The one who had been walking came out in the open and stared. The darkness of the corridor concealed it's identity. "Uh...hello. Is there something here I can eat?" she questioned the dark figure.

The wind outside picked up suddenly and blew the windows out. The sound of the windows crashing was earshattering and the glass flew everywhere.

"Ahhh" Ashley shielded herself as best as she could. Pieces of the glass flew by cutting her unprotected arms and legs. The dark figure long forgotten she ran to take cover. She wasn't fast enough. A large shard of glass came flying at her imbedding itself in her lower abdomen.

Gasping loudly she stopped running. The glass was digging deeper  into her side, trying to penetrate her organs. Wth one motion she pulled the offending object from her waist. She had lost to much blood her kimono was soaked with the sticky fluid. Her eys were getting heavy and she could feel her heart slowing down. 

The dark figure appeared directly in front of her holding a sword in its hands. Its red eyes shined with a predatorial glare as they fell on her. 

Bleeding and losing energy by the second she did the oly thing she could do, she lashed out at it.

          Ashley woke up with a start hitting the first thing she seen. Her fist made a solid connection with something large and heavy. The sound of someone groaning made her open her eyes in curiosity.

Two young men sat on either side of her. They both were trying their hardest not to laugh. About what, she didn't know.

One of them had short black hair that spiked up occasionally at ceratin spots on his head. His brown eyes glistened with the tears threatning to slide down his young face. He sat on a stool holding his stomach as his skinny body shook with restrained laughter.

The other one wasn't very easy on the eyes as his own body rattled while he tried to subdue his own snickers. His orange hair stuffed, on top of his head in an odd style, didn't bugde under the movement. He sat hunched over his long legs which stuck out at odd angles.

Eventually her eyes found the source of their amusement. On the floor a few feet away from her another young man lay sprawled on the floor. His long vibrant red hair lay around him framing his face. He was motionless and she would have thought he was a sleep if it hadn't been for the swirls that were present where his eyes should have been.

The two boys began to howl with laughter as the red head began to stir. They sputtered incoherent babble and snorted, only stopping to catch their breath perodicaly.

The red head sat up and placed his hand gently on his face. Wincing slightly he moved his hand back to the floor. He was brought out of his daze at the sound of laughter. He looked up to find a pair of inqusitive brown eyes watching him.

Kurama smiled kindly as he realized who it was. "Hello, if I had known of your fighting abilities I would have remained in my earlier position."

Ashley stared at him confused as she still had not grasped the situation. "Am I dead?" she looked around at the three other people in the room. "I know I hit that tree pretty hard but, that wouldn't kill me would it?"

Yusuke stopped laughing and stared at her. His brown eyes searching her to see if she was telling the truth.

Ashley just stared back slowly becoming impatient as she waited for a response. "Look I was running and I had a big piece of glass the size of your head in my side" she indicated while pointing at Yusuke's head. "Then that guy was gonna kill me so I hit him and...." her brain finaly putting two and two together she realized it had been a dream.

Kuwabara glanced at Yusuke and snickered. "Haha Urameshi, she said your head was big!" He laughed some more at Yusuke's expense before he was attacked by the enraged teen.

"Ya think it's funny do ya! Well I'm gonna show you funny!" Yusuke hurled himself at Kuwabara knocking him off the stool. The two continued to fight while Ashley and Kurama got aquainted.

Standing up and dusting off Kurama introduced himself. "Hello I'm Kurama, I'm sorry you had to wake up to there horse play."

"Uh...so where am I?" she questioned not totally willing to give up any personal info to the mild mannered stranger. "I was hiking in the woods and I don't remember seeing a house."

" I was out gardening when you stumbled upon me. I was startled to say the least by your sudden appearence in this part of the forest. Your were quite out of sorts after you ran into that tree and afterwards you collapased right on our front doorstep." He smiled reassuringly hoping she would explain her real reason for being there.

"So I fell out and you brought me in." She pondered his reply while listening to the heated battle currently going on a few feet away from them. "Well thanks for helping me out but I need to be going."

Kurama was a little surprised at her statement. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. Your injuries are far to severe to travel."

"What injuries?"

Kurama pointed to her side and legs. "You bruised a few ribs from coliding with that tree. When you fell your legs also recived some damage, though they were minor compared to your others."

Ashley frowned slightly at the news. How was she going to get to Jin, he needed her.

Kurama watched as her mood spiraled downward after hearing about her condition. His thoughts were interupted as Yusuke's and Kuwabara's fight escalated.

"Spirit Sword!" Cried the raspy voice of Kuwabara. A bright yellow beam of light appeared in his large hands.

Yusuke retaliated by holding up his hand and pointing at Kuwabara as if it were a gun.

Kurama ran over to the two and placed himself between them. "Take this outside. I'll not have you two blowing holes and tearing down walls. We have a guest show some courtesy and behave." Kurama gave the boys a stern look until they dropped their battle stances.

Yusuke grumbled at Kurama's form as he walked over to Ashley's bed. "Hi, the names Yusuke Urameshi. You can call me whatever you like." He smirked.

Kuwabara bounded over to her looking the part of a complete idiot. "Kazuma Kuwabara, I'll be gald to help you out with anything." He smiled at her with his silly grin streching from ear to ear.

Ashley smiled slightly at them. She didn't want to be rude but she just couldn't forget about Jin.

"Oh she's awake!" A shrill voice came into the room along with light but quick footsteps.

Ashley winced slightly at the high pitched noise. Whatever was making that sound needed to die!

Through the doors skipped Botan. Her light blue hair flicked about as she ran into the room. Her pink Kimono flowed with her as she headed towards the group. "I'm so gald your awake! You've been sleep for days." She smiled brightly as she continued to speak in her native langauge, squaking.

Kurama attempted to quiet her down but she just went on yakking.

Ashley was obviously suffering under Botan's constant blabbering, as she cowered trying to cover her ears. With out warning she passed out.

Botan looked down at her and smiled. "Aww she fell asleep again." She looked over at Kurama who had an odd look on his handsome face. His green eyes held a look of disapointment as they fell on Botan.

She looked confused as all eyes were on her. Had she done something wrong?  She looked down at Ashley's silent form and looked back at Kurama. "What's her name?"

Yusuke sighed in irritation. "We didn't get to find out because YOU" he pointed at her for emphasis. "came in and knocked her out before we could ask her anything!"

Finaly realizing what she had done smiled weekly and steped away from the bed. She made a move to leave the room when one last person walked through the arched doors.

Hiei walked in with a permanent scowl etched onto his face. He glared at the other occupants and then looked at what they were gathered around. "What is going on here?"

Kurama calmly replied knowing that either way Hiei would not approve. 'Hiei I found her unconcious outside on our doorstep. I could not leave her there."

A low growl emmited from Hiei as he made his way over to Ashley's side. He was shocked at what he saw.

Her skin was dark. An unusual emotion filled Hiei's eyes as he gazed at her sleeping form. Her breathing was soft and natural as she slipped in and out of her dream realm.

He felt his own breathing pace itself to match hers. Startled by his bodies reaction to her he backed away. Hiei glared at Kurama trying to see if he had noticed what had just happened.

"Ido not want to see her in this house when I come back." He stated leaving no room for an argument.

"She is injured and will not be able to move about on her own for a month at the least." Kurama pleaded with Hiei.

Another low growl was his answer.

"Come on have a heart shortie! She can't defend herself and she can't walk. Let her stay until she's better at least" the red head cried.

The group of four watched Hiei intensly as he decided on the young maidens fate. "She may stay but only 'til she has regained her strength. After that she leaves and under no circumstances are you to beg me to keep her."

They all breathed a sigh of relife as Hiei walked out of the room.

There ya go! Chapter two! Hope you enjoyed it! Review because it's nice to do so.