:Chapter VII: A Stranger Lurks:

As the months went on…

"Kya, since you have improved so quickly, you are on your last week of training in each technique, since it is enough for now. You will be able to train by yourself, if you want to maintain your skill," Genki informs me, as she comes into my room with the daily wake up call.

"Whew!" I ponder as I get out of bed to prepare for today's training.

I lift up my arm and concentrate on my closet. Focusing on the task at hand, I use my newly mastered telekinetic powers to open my closet door and levitate my usual wardrobe of black sweats and a white, hooded cloak. I attack my sheathed jin to my belt. After I get dressed, I close my eyes and concentrate my on spirit rising. When I open my eyes, I am floating in the air. I fly through the temple, out the door, and stop when I meet Yusuke and Kuwabara. I get back to the standing position, close my eyes, and concentrate my spirit towards the ground. I open my eyes as I feel my feet gently touch the ground.

"Wow! You're really getting good at that!" Kuwabara says in amazement.

"Yeah, you've really improved," Yusuke adds.

"Thanks," I reply.

"Well, today is the day you've been waiting for. Today, you get to face someone in one-on-one combat," Yusuke states.

"Kuwabara's no challenge, I barely defeated Kurama, and…" I start to ponder.

My thoughts get interrupted by Yusuke adding, "Today, you get to face me."

"So be it," I say as I fly to the center of the battle arena.

Yusuke jumps in and joins me. Kuwabara stands at one of the sides and raises his arm.

"You guys know the rules, so… ready… set… FIGHT!" Kuwabara shouts as he lowers his arm.

Yusuke starts off charging at me, with tremendous speed. At first, I get taken aback by his speed. He starts to rapidly punch me. Using a greater speed, I block each attack. Yusuke then, surprises me with a kick in the stomach. I take a few steps back and gasp for air. Once I catch my breath, I see Yusuke coming at me with another punch. Just as I block it, I notice Yusuke attempting a sweeping side kick. I concentrate on my spirit rising and I levitate, dodging the kick. I search my surroundings from the sky. My eyes set sight on a large boulder. I reach toward the boulder and concentrate my energy towards it, until it's surrounding the boulder. The boulder starts to levitate. I jerk my arm down at Yusuke. In a matter of seconds, the boulder flies toward Yusuke.

As it's falling, he points his finger at it, smirks and shouts, "SPIRIT GUN!"

A large, light blue aura is released from his finger. It completely destroys the boulder and sends dust and rock debris everywhere. I rub my eyes from the dust and rock debris. My eyes jolt open when I sense another of Yusuke's auras, except this time it is larger and it is coming towards me.

I stretch my arms on both of my sides, concentrate my energy, and shout, "DARKNESS SHIELD!"

A large, purple and black aura is released from my palms. It encloses me in a sphere. The beam released from Yusuke, reflects off of the barrier surrounding me. When it bounces off, it is sent flying back toward Yusuke. His eyes widen with shock as he jumps out of the way. Once the beam hits the arena, both Yusuke and I are sent flying from the force. I lose my concentration as I'm sent backward and I start to fall. Just before I hit the ground, I concentrate my energy, so that another barrier surrounds me, breaking my fall. I gently set myself on the ground. I sigh with relief and stare at the ground. Suddenly, Yusuke jumps on my back. He and I roll on the ground. When we stop, he starts tickling me, knowing that I was ticklish. I laugh and fall under the mercy of his tickling. He too, is laughing in the process.

"He, he, he… cut it out… Yusuke!" I command with uncontrollable laughter.

"Hm… how about…. NOT!" Yusuke replies with a smirk as he continues to mercilessly tickle me.

We both stop when we hear Kurama say, "And the winner is… Yusuke, with tickle torture!"

"When did you get here?" Yusuke asks.

"It's my turn to train Kya," Kurama responds.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Yusuke says as he releases me and walks off the arena.

"Hey! Yusuke, that's not fair! I want a rematch!" I shout to his back.

He stops and says, "Maybe some other time."

"Next time NO TICKLING!" I shout.

"We'll see about that," Yusuke mumbles.

"YUSUKE URAMESHI!" I shout as I stomp toward him. Kurama grabs my arms and pulls them behind my back, restraining me.

Yusuke jumps down from the arena and sits up against a tree.

"Shall we start your training for the day?" Kurama asks politely.

I stop, calm myself down, and reply, "Yeah."

After two hours of training, I fall to the ground.

"I'm starving!" I say over the loud rumbles of my empty stomach. "I forgot to eat breakfast this morning!"

"We'll just have to do something about that then, won't we?" Kurama asks.

Suddenly, a huge rice ball, in a bag, hits me in the face.

"Sorry about that. I thought you'd catch it," Kurama apologizes.

I quickly take out the rice ball and take a huge bite.

"Thatphshf's no probsphspem!" I reply with a mouthful. "Sorry about that, I meant, that's no problem. Thanks Kurama."

We eat our rice balls. After we finish, we sit and talk as our small lunch settles.

"Kya, I was wondering, about that time from your first day of training, when you lost control of your powers, why did you point at Hiei?" Kurama asks.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not positive. I guess I just pointed at him because… I know he thinks of me as a weakling and he didn't know what I was going through… what I went through. It's like I thought that he didn't know what it was like to have a bad past…" I start.

"Ningen, you know nothing of a bad past!" Hiei interrupts.

"Hiei?" Kurama asks.

"Hn!" Hiei says as he teleports from a nearby tree.

"What was that about?" I ask.

"Well, Hiei had a bad past. He doesn't like to talk about it, but I shall tell you anyways. He was born a male, fire apparition in a land of only female, ice apparitions. A male is rarely born there, so he was known as the 'Forbidden Child.' I'm unfamiliar of the history behind the rare conception of a male, but I do know that he was thrown off of Koormie, the island of the ice maidens, with the intention of him dying. Instead, a group of thieves found him and raised him. He found out that after he was thrown off the island, his mother commit suicide…"

"That's terrible!" I interrupt.

"Yes, well, there is some good news about all of that. Hiei found out that he has a twin sister, but I won't tell you anymore because Hiei could have my head on a silver platter for that!" Kurama finishes.

"Wow," is all I can say. "Well, I guess I could tell you about mine. sigh I was born as an only child. My parents had me when they were young teens. Since they didn't know what to do with me, they tried to raise me. After 2 years, they gave up and started drinking. The alcohol started getting to their heads and they started to beat me. They'd beat me if I did one little thing wrong, or even if I didn't do anything wrong… (Tears start to swell up in my eyes. I hesitantly continue…) I'd try really hard every day to do something to make them happy, but I'd just get discouraged for my attempts. I'd cry myself to sleep every night, thinking about… (I start crying) thinking about… what I was doing wrong… why no one loved me… why I felt so lonely. It seemed as if I was raising myself. One day, I had enough. I lost control and that's when my aura appeared. The next thing I know, I come here and meet you guys."

"Wow Kya, I'm really sorry," Kurama says as he hugs me.

The warmth of the hug comforts me, yet I still felt empty. Without a thought, I lightly kiss Kurama on the lips. His lips touching mine made me snap back and realize what I was doing. I develop a strange feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach.

I back away and say, "I'm sorry, but it's not right. Please don't get mad at me!"

I get up and run to the forest. I don't understand why it felt so wrong, but it did. Suddenly, I concentrate on my spirit rising, and I start to fly. I randomly glide through the forest, dodging trees. I stop when I get to the clearing with the waterfall. Every time I feel distressed, I follow my heart and end up here. I lower myself to the ground, sit down on the large stone, lean up against the tree, pull my knees close to my chest, lay my head on my knees and start to cry. I ponder about me still feeling lonely, even when I'm sleeping within the safe walls of the temple. I always feel alone.

"I'm sorry! … I'm sorry! … I'm sorry! ..." I start saying with the guilt in my stomach growing.

Right now, I feel more alone than ever.

I stop crying and look up when I hear a cold, deep voice say, "Sorry about what?"

My heart skips a beat when I hear the voice. I lose the feeling of loneliness. I look around for Hiei, since it sounded like him and I find no one. Suddenly, I hear tree branches rustling and within the blink of an eye, Hiei appears in front of me.

"Don't cry ningen. It's weak," Hiei says as he stares at me expressionlessly.

"I'm sorry Hiei," I repeat as I look down.

"For what?" Hiei asks.

"Everything!" I reply as another tear slides down my cheek.

Hiei continues to stare at me. I look up and notice that he has a hint of sympathy in his eyes, for a mere second. Then they turn back to the emotionless stare. There is a moment of silence.

"If you're done mopping, I'll take you back to the temple," Hiei states.

"Please don't take me to the temple," I mumble.

"Why not?" Hiei asks.

I quickly stand up, with more tears swelling in my eyes, as I make eye contact with him, and reply, "Cause, I don't want to feel alone!"

Without a thought, I run towards Hiei and wrap my arms around his shoulders, before he can make a move. I lay my head in his chest and cry. For a second, his eyes widen with shock and horror. He then, hesitantly wraps his arms around my waist. The warm embrace sooths me. My heart, for once, seems filled. Hiei takes his hand, puts it under my chin, and gently tilts my head up, so that our eyes meet.

"But you aren't alone," Hiei says.

Before I can reply my eyes get lost in his deep crimson eyes. Hiei's face hesitantly moves closer to mine, until I feel his warm breath on my face. Our lips touch. I move my arms so that they're wrapped around his neck. Hiei pulls me closer to him. The warmth of his lips make me feel like I'm in heaven.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain, like a needle, sink into my neck. I feel a cool liquid being released from the thing in my neck. My body starts to become numb.

I slowly pull away from the kiss and force out, "… Hiei…" before my body becomes limp and I start to fall.

Hiei's eyes widen as I fall. He catches my body and examines me. He then sees a long, skinny dart, with red and blue feathers, sticking out of my neck. Hiei gently sets my lifeless body on the ground and takes the dart out. He rips off his bandana and searches the forest. His eyes squint with anger as he teleports. He appears behind a crouching figure in a dark brown, hooded cloak, behind a nearby tree. The figure turns around. Once he sees Hiei, his eyes widen with horror. Hiei reaches down, grabs the figure by the neck and slams him against the tree that the figure was hiding behind. As the figure hits the tree, the hood lowers revealing a demon with green skin, completely red, (no from passing out, that's just how they are) horror-filled eyes, and shoulder length, tangled purple hair.

"Why did you attack her?" Hiei asks with anger in his voice.

The demon stares at Hiei with his quivering jaw dropped.

"Answer me, now!' Hiei shouts as he starts to squeeze the demon's neck.

"I w… wasss Jusssst following Master'sss ordersss," The demon forces out.

"Who's your master?" Hiei asks.

"Maiku doesssn't know," the demon replies

You lie!" Hiei shouts as he takes his free arm and grabs the handle of his katana.

"Maiku, knowsss not, Master'sss name!" Maiku says as he closes his eyes.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Hiei asks, "What's the antidote?"

The demon just stares at Hiei. Hiei then takes his katana and slightly presses the metal blade against Maiku's neck.

"Stop being foolish! It would be wise to answer me!" Hiei shouts.

Maiku starts to open his mouth to say something. Within the blink of an eye, blood starts pouring from Maiku's mouth. Hiei's eyes widen with horror as he releases Maiku from his grasp and pulls away his katana. Hiei sees that the spot where he had his blade against Maiku's neck has no sign of a scratch. Hiei then notices that there is another blade jammed into Maiku's ribs from the side. Hiei gets in a fighting position and searches for energy. A flash of red eyes lurking in the shadows catches his attention.

"Pitiful creature," the figure says in a deep voice.

"Who are you?" Hiei asks.

"Don't you think there are other important things to worry about other than my name? Such as, what is to become your precious ningen onna?"

Hiei glares at the figure as he asks with anger, "What have you done with her?"

"Nothing, I don't intend on taking her body, but what she possesses inside of it…" the figure starts.

"What are you talking about?" Hiei asks.

"You'll find out as you weep over her dead body!" the figure shouts as he disappears.

Hiei runs back over to Kya and checks on her condition. She's sweating and panting as her pulse increases.

He picks her up and just as he's about to teleport, he hears a faint voice cry, "… Wait…"

Hiei stops, turns around and sees Maiku crawling toward him.

"There'sss no antidote… the only way ssshe can be sssaved isss… if sssomeone could… enter her mind and ssstop her… before ssshe passssesss on to… Oblivion…" Maiku forces out before he dies.

Hiei nods before teleporting away.