Slowly, slowly, Achiko's eyes opened ever so slowly, and realized that she was near her clearing, in a sleeping bag. She started to sit up, but again was abruptly pushed down. A cold hand placed itself on her forehead, and she blinked before totally grasping the concept- someone was checking for a fever.

"What the..." she muttered, and out from the shadows came Hiei.

"Hn, stay down, your still feverish." Hiei ordered, and like a silly little girl, she did as she was told.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Hiei turned around and picked something up. Before he could reply, voices were heard in the clearing. Achiko sat up, ignoring Hiei's orders and protests. She started to stand up on her trembling legs, and leaned against a tree for support. She glimpsed through the branches of a bush near her clearing, and peeked in: The town's folk had returned. Achiko gasped- knowing she would be unable to just walk away with her fever. Hiei stuck his head out next to Achiko's and he spied the grouping as well. He narrowed his eyes into a glare and looked curiously at Achiko, who was panting heavily, her face paler than ever.

"You. Go lay down," he ordered softly, pointing back to the sleeping bag. She nodded and stumbled over to the bag she sat down on top of it for a moment. She didn't want to lie down, just sit there and worry about the villagers. Achiko turned around and found that Hiei had gone. Curious as to where he had gone, Achiko started to stand up, and a warm hand steadied her before she fell.

"Well, hello there!" said the red haired boy.

Achiko looked curiously at him, and then sank back down to her knees. Kurama, as the red haired boy introduced himself, checked her temperature.

"You're not doing much better," he told Achiko, "You need to stop trying to move! Lay down, I'll watch over you until Hiei returns."

Achiko eyed him nervously, but when he opened up the top layer of the sleeping bag, she happily accepted its warmth, along with the cold washcloth he placed on her forehead to cool down the fever.

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Achiko awoke a while later to the warm breeze and the smell of burning wood. She rolled over in the sleeping bag inhabited, and looked directly into the fire.

"You're awake." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah, so what?" she growled back to the speaker, although she did so softly, for she was still weak. Her eyes focused a bit more, and she saw that the speaker was Hiei.

"Oh, it's you Mr. Cat," she muttered, and Hiei seemingly hissed at her. She grinned at him. She almost fell over again when two other boys hopped over to her and bombarded her with questions.

"Who are you?"

"Are you a demon?"

"Am I handsome?"

"Isn't he freaky?"

"Why aren't you answering our questions?!"

Achiko 'meeped' and sat up straight.

"Maybe this one doesn't want to answer your questions!" she muttered back stubbornly. She coughed for a second or two, her flushed face warning the boys that she was going to pass out if she overexerted herself.

"Lay back down, bakka onna, your just going to get sicker." Ordered Hiei.

Achiko almost did as she was told, but sneezed three times instead. This time, the black haired boy checked her fever.

"Well, your defiantly doing better, but you should rest a little bit longer, by the way, I'm Yusuke, and that's Kuwabara." He said pointing to the ugly orange haired guy who was drooling over Achiko.

"This one thinks she's gonna be sick, and she's pretty sure it's not the fever," she announced.

Yusuke and Kurama chuckled as Kuwabara pouted, and Hiei replied with an awe inspiring "Hn".

"This one's turn for questions..." said Achiko, "Who are you, and why are you so interested in this one? Why are you taking care of her?"

The boys exchanged looks, excluding Hiei who was then lounging in a tree.

"Well..." started Yusuke

"Hey, you're a demon right?" asked the obnoxious carrot top.

Achiko glared at him, "Perhaps,"

"Well, that's not important," lied Kurama, and Achiko could tell, "What matters now is that you get better, why don't you have something to eat or take a rest?"

Achiko nodded solemnly, "As long as it is not that 'Spam' stuff, this one will eat it."

"'Spam?'" asked Kurama

"Yeah, some old guy in the village gave this one some, it was a bunch of meat mixed together, and it was gross!" Achiko growled, sticking out her tongue.

The boys chuckled, and welcomed her around the large fire. Yusuke threw the blanket she had been wearing back at her, "Wear it! We don't want you getting sick- again!"

Achiko grinned at him, and he grinned back as she snuggled into the blanket and inhaled the smell of burning wood. After a while, the odd group of demons and humans were gathered around the fire roasting marshmallows.

"Mr. Cat? This one has made you a.... Shmore? Is that what it's called?" Achiko said, laughing as the others shook their heads. Hiei hissed again, and turned his back on the rest of the group. She smiled sadly at him and then said, "Oh well, the more for this one then!" And she took a large bite of her 'Shmore', getting marshmallow all over her nose.

"These are so good, this one has never had one of these before!" she said, after chewing her S'more, "But then again..." she started.

Everyone looked at her sad face, even Hiei, "Hmm... never mind..."

A smile glittered on her face, covering up her sad, far-away look.

"Anyways, you never answered this ones questions," she said, "Why are you taking care of her?"

Again, the boys exchanged looks and Kurama walked over to sit next to Achiko.

"Your name is Achiko, right?" he asked, and the wolf girl nodded. "Well, Achiko, we know you are a demon and a very powerful one at that. Well, we want you to meet someone who will help you with your powers a bit more."

"This ones powers are just fine," she said and sneezed.

"Perfectly fine," said a voice coming from the clearing.

Everyone stood up- Achiko did too, but Hiei quickly pushed her back down.

"Stay here," he said, and Achiko, being unusually subservient, followed his orders.

The four boys filed into the clearing, leaving Achiko behind to tend to the fire. She sniffled, and was about to crawl over to the clearing to see what was going on when a cold hand slid down her neck, and then tapped it gently. Achiko was knocked unconscious.

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There- how was that peeps? Lol. Anyhoo, this is just me, Sakura, coming to say hello and thanks for reading!!! YAY! lol Please rate so I don't feel sooooo aloooone! lol I'm so queer....issat a word? ponders I'll have the next chapter up later today or tomorrow- TTFN! LOVE SAKURA