Achiko put a hand to the wound on her head, and brought it back in front of her face: the blood trickled down her arm. She stuck her hand into the crystal clear stream, which was in the depths of the forest. Anger etched itself onto her face, and she tied a bandage around her head. Slowly, she took off her garments, and slipped into the icy water. She brought her clothes with her, and washed the blood out of the shirt.

'There's so much blood,' she thought, 'this one is surprised she hasn't fainted yet..."

Achiko dunked her head under the water, and opened her eyes- then quickly closed them. She surfaced and then got out of the stream. Her clothes in hand, and a tattered, yet dry towel in the other, Achiko headed for 'home'.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, that's all the old woman could tell you?" asked what seemed to be a small child.

"Yes, that's all she told us," replied Kurama.

"So that's all we know of Achiko right now," said the child, sighing.

"You mean, that's all?" asked Yusuke, "You don't even have a file?!"

The child looked at him and said, "We did, but it only has a picture- it didn't have a name, age, race, and so on."

"But, why don't you know anything on her, Koenma?" asked Kuwabara.

The child, Koenma, sighed again, and replied, "She disappeared after her clan did, and we took her for dead."

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Well, she's not, and she's in the city where you sent us to look for that demon- do you think it might be her?" asked Yusuke.

"No, the descriptions don't match- besides, the demon behind it is supposedly rich." Commented Koenma, "Anyways, I want you to go back there for a while- and see if you meet up with this mysterious demon again."

Three out of the four boys nodded, but Hiei continued to look down, contemplating...something.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Achiko entered the small, circular clearing that had been her home for the past four years. It had been four years since her clan had disappeared, and four years without a name- other than the one the humans had given her. A large, black raven perched itself on her shoulder, giving the appearance that she had wings.

"Hello, forest dweller," she said lightly to the bird.

It cawed its reply, and then took off.

"Visitors, in this one's forest?" she thought, and then took off after the raven.

After running for a while, she made it to the outskirts of the forest. Her slightly dampened outfit made it look like she had just gone swimming, and her soaked, long black hair was roughly tied into a loose ponytail. She quickly jumped into a tree upon hearing a few voices.

"Is this the right way?" asked one voice, strangely familiar.

"Am I supposed to know?" asked another familiar voice.

She stuck her head out from between the branches of the trees, and saw the four boys she had met with previously. They were disturbing her forest; she had to make them leave. Silently, she jumped out of her tree, and landed directly in front of Hiei, leaving almost no room between the two.

"What do you want?" she breathed.

Only Hiei was where he was originally, everyone else had jumped backwards in fright. She glared at Hiei, and he returned the intense stare.

She repeated the question, "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

Her dangerously calm voice freighted Kuwabara to the point where he almost wet himself. The girl glanced in his direction, then back to Hiei, and the staring contest.

"Achiko!" he shouted.

Achiko fell over in fright (looks like this! oO) and shouted back, "What the hell was that for?!"

Hiei looked triumphant, and his friends looked even more scared. Achiko glared at Hiei, and then stood back up on her own two feet.

"What do you want," she huffed irritably, "and how do you know that name?"

Kurama pointed to her head, "Is that from earlier?"

The girl nodded solemnly and said, "This one does not notice pain, so it took this one a while to figure out she was bleeding."

Hiei crossed his arms and looked at you again, "Why are you wet?" he asked curiously. His eyes widened, the question had just popped out.

Achiko looked ready to burst, "This one was granted the time for a quick bath, and then she heard that there were visitors in her forest."

She sighed, "May this one ask you to leave? I do not want bloodshed."

Kuwabara huffed," A girl couldn't beat me!"

Achiko smirked, "Oh really?" Then she was gone.

The three boys heard a gasp behind them and turned to see Kuwabara beaten to a pulp-but Achiko was nowhere to be found.

"Um, this one is over here," said a voice, and the three turned around, eyes wide.

There was Achiko, inspecting her nails, "Too easy..." she said laughing, and then took off, back to the clearing she called home. Once she had returned there, she perched herself into a tree, and watched as the sun quickly switched places in the moon. She howled at the moon, and a chorus of heart-aching howls followed her own. Letting go of her human form, a long, silvery wolf tail, and a pair of large, perky wolf ears appeared on her body. Her entire pack, from the beta to the newborn pups, gathered around her tree, and howled in magical harmony with her. Achiko's howls turned to song, with the wolves singing their own tune in the background,

"As the moonlit shadows call me, I tend to wonder why I'm here. Why my spirit has been tied down, and held captive to the light, I wonder how I'll ever escape, and disappear back into the night..." Her melodies voice attracted that of all the wolves in the nearby, forested area, and magical birds of all shapes and sizes gathered on Achiko's tree. As her so-called 'Spirit Energy' surrounded her, she let loose all of her power, and torrents of rain were expelled from the dark and ominous clouds hanging from above. As each raindrop splattered on her face, her joyous singing became happier, and louder- while at the same time her energy grew larger and far more powerful. Raindrops gathered on her face, and made it look as if the girl was crying. Achiko sang for a whole hour, not even caring that she was getting soaked, and would probably be sick by tomorrow. The entire pack stayed in their protective circle, and watched over their pack leader. With one foot curled under her, and her arm folded as a pillow, the other limbs hung off the edge of the tree.

"Grrrrr..." growled one wolf menacingly. It had noticed the presence of four unusual boys, but their scent was on its leader. It growled, baring its teeth one more time, then stepped away from the tree. One of the four boys started for the trees, while another clung to the one they had been hiding behind.

"I ain't goin' anywhere NEAR that tree!" he almost shouted.

"Kuwabara! Do you wanna wake her up?" one other angrily whispered.

The rain suddenly slowed, and the sun began to slowly rise. One wolf howled, and the other followed. The four boys scampered out of there as fast as they could. Then Achiko woke up, a flicker of a smile on her face, and her black hair wild from the wind. She sneezed, and almost fell out of the tree. Achiko sniffed, and realized that the four boys she had met earlier had been there. She growled, and sat up on her branch, combing her fingers through her hair. Achiko looked around her and sneezed again. Ignoring the oncoming cold, and the beginning of the never-ending sneezes, Achiko hopped off her tree, and dismissed her pack. They calmly left, and she was left to her own devices. She walked back to the town, and put on her innocent act. Silence was the key, plus adorable, innocent eyes. She wandered around the town for a while, and then turned into an alley that would lead back to the forest. A large rock hit Achiko's head, right where the wound from yesterday was. It started to bleed, and Achiko turned slowly and innocently around, eying the rock by her feet. Her eyes narrowed and she turned her stare to the person who had thrown the rock. The kid took a step backwards and disappeared into the crowd. Achiko put a hand to her bleeding head, and looked at it with no emotion. Someone in the crowd shouted something about her, and the rest of the crowd gathered their courage, and threw many large rocks at her. They bounced off of her body, and she paid no mind, this wasn't the first time this had happened. She just looked on as someone shouted insults from somewhere in the mob, which resulted in more rocks. Somewhat quicker than she may have wished, she walked from the alley and into the depths of the forest.

"Yea! Go back where you belong!" shouted someone's gruff voice.

Achiko sighed, 'This one wishes she could,'

She finally got back to her clearing and settled there for a minute, ignoring bruises, sneezing, and trying to stay awake. She shivered involuntarily, and sneezed once more. Her human ears were red, and she was pale with a slight, fevered blush on her face. Her eyes half open she noticed someone walk into her clearing. She growled, but it came out more like a hiss. She started to stand up but a hand on her shoulder pushed her back down. She looked warily at the boy...she recognized anyone.... forget...that...funny.... hair....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------