Hiei was carrying me again, but I didn't know where he was taking me. But that was hardly surprising. I had only lived in Tokyo for three years after moving to Japan from England, so there were a lot of places I still didn't know.

At last, we stopped and Hiei carefully put me down in a deserted alley.

"I don't know much about lightning and electricity, but I know of some of the abilities you should have. First of all, can you fight?" He scrutinized me carefully. "You look a little small to be able to do or take much physical damage."

I bristled. "You of all people should know that size isn't everything, sir. I can hold my own rather well in a street fight."

Hiei smiled wryly. "I suppose so. Then all I ask if that you keep up with me."

Without any further ado, Hiei took off running out of the alley. Lucky for me, he was only going at a normal, human-capable speed. The stereotype of computers hacks usually says we're weaklings, but I was proud to say that I was very fast, agile, and quite strong. I caught up with Hiei easily as we dashed through the crowd of people.

People turned to stare at us, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was keeping pace with Hiei. When we were neck to neck, Hiei grinned wickedly at me…And disappeared.

I saw him flitting through the people, and didn't even bother to think that I probably could not use that demonic hyper-speed thing of his, but instead I jumped after him. I was shocked to discover that my speed was able to match his. So I could use demonic super speed…Hiei must've suspected this before, because he didn't look surprised to see me by his side again.

Suddenly, Hiei veered off the sidewalk. I screeched to a halt, completely shocking the people around me as I wasn't just a blur running through the crowd anymore. I tried to find him, and was amused to see him leaping across the tops of the cars in the traffic. I grinned, exposing sharp, vampire-like eye teeth, and leapt after him over the cars' roofs.

Every time I would catch up to him, Hiei would add another obstacle to our mad race. We were jumping up buildings, across the buildings' roofs, and even across sand and water. I had not even the faintest idea where we were anymore. At last, we were sprinting through a forest, dodging bushes and tree roots. Then, we were leaping from branch to branch through the treetops. I kept waiting for a new change, but when it came, it was nothing like I expected.

Hiei dropped down to the forest floor again. He waited for me to follow. When I had chased him into a clearing, he lunged at me.

I had barely enough time to register what he was doing and block the blow. But he didn't stop there. He attacked again and again, until we were engaged in a lightning-fast battle amongst the trees.

Block, attack, block attack…The fight developed a mechanical rhythm, neither of us able to land a blow. I was well aware the Hiei was holding himself back, or I doubted whether I would've lasted even this long.

WHACK! Finally, Hiei landed a blow. The force threw me back against a tree. I felt parts of my dress and skin rip as I hit several sharp, durable branches.

Hiei landed at the opposite side of the clearing. "You okay?"

I examined one cut on my arm, out of which the blood was flowing quite freely. I licked at the blood. "Never better."

Hiei grinned. "You're going to make one hell of a demon." He watched me lick my wound for a moment then said, "Catch."

That word was the only warning he gave before hurling a fireball at me.

Huh?! How was I supposed to catch THAT? Without even thinking, I threw up my hand. To my great astonishment, my hand sparked and flashed. A white ball of lightning identical in size to Hiei's sprang out.

As the two balls headed towards each other, I saw Hiei start running towards me. But he didn't look like he was going to attack.

The two balls collided and the force shook the air. I felt myself being pushed down to the ground as the two energies exploded. I closed my eyes and covered my head as leaves and bits of wood rained down on us. As it calmed down, I coughed a little.

"Huh," Hiei said, while he got off of me and helped me up. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks for saving me," I muttered. I didn't want to think what would have happened to me if he hadn't protected me.

Hiei shrugged and gave me a strange look. "It's no big deal. But I've done all I want to. Are you ready to go home?"

Kurama was lounging on the couch reading a novel when we came back. One look at us, bloodied and bruised, made him drop his book and rush over to us with a look of concern.

Even though Hiei was far less injured than I was, most of Kurama's concern seemed to be directed at him. Although I feel terribly selfish to admit this, I felt a string of jealousy, which confused me. Why would I be jealous…?

"Take off your clothes," Kurama said casually. I blinked in surprise, not sure I had heard right.

"B-Beg pardon, sir?"

"I need to attend to your wounds," Kurama replied a little calmly. I backed away, crossing my arms securely over my chest.

Hiei laughed. "Come on, we're already see it all." This only made me flush fiercely and shrink away from them.

"If you're not going to strip, then I'll undress you myself." Kurama explained, as if he threatened girls like this everyday.

Well, that was certainly enough encouragement to get me to change my mind. Even though their faces remained completely stoic, I could tell both boys were laughing their asses off at me on the inside. "F-fine," I stuttered.

Kurama laid a hand on my lower back and began to push me up the stairs to his room. I shivered at his touch. A good shiver.

"You too, Hiei," Kurama called over his shoulder.

Hiei followed without a complaint.

Minutes later, a topless Hiei and me only in my bra and underwear sat on Kurama's bed. I was furiously embarrassed, but neither boy seemed to really care that I was nearly naked. I glanced at Hiei momentarily and was a little surprised at what I saw.

For such a shrimpy looking guy, Hiei was surprisingly muscular. His chest, arms, and abdominals were nicely defined and buff. I felt nothing towards him romantically (indeed, I was starting to view him as a close brother) but I had to admit that he looked good.

Hiei was receiving the medical attention from Kurama first. Which made no sense considering he was the less wounded of us. It was illogical. The only thing that really made me care about that was my near-nudity. It wasn't that I was ashamed of my body Even despite my lack of womanly curves, I had a nice body. My skin was lovely, I was pleasantly slender, and all of my muscles were well toned. Most girls would seriously kill for a body like mine, but I wasn't willing to show it off to some boys I barely knew. The first boy I ever wanted to see me this unclothed was my true love, but I guess I hadn't been given a choice, had I? Speaking of which…

"Hey," I said suddenly, causing both boys to jump slightly, "why exactly was I naked when you brought me here after I destroyed my house?" A thought occurred to me. I hoped it had been them who had found me and brought me here. It was bad enough being stripped by Hiei and Kurama, but if Yusuke and Kuwabara had done it…

"We don't know," Kurama said, carefully applying his special, homemade ointment to one of Hiei's worst cuts. "You were naked when Hiei and I got there." I exhaled in relief. "I assume the sheer force of your power vaporized your clothes or something like that. You brother was nude as well." Kurama pressed the tape on the last bandage Hiei required. "You ready?" He asked me. I nodded, suddenly finding it difficult to swallow. Why was my heart beating so fast?

I trembled at his first touch, and goose bumps erupted all over my skin. Kurama drew back in surprise. "Are you okay?"

"Well," I mumbled, more towards the direction of the floor, "I'm just not used to having a boy touch me yet, sir." I said that quite without thinking.

Hiei and Kurama shared a glance and then both boys burst into laughter.

I flushed and glared at them both. "Well," Kurama said, still chortling, "if you keep getting hurt like this, then you're going to have to get used to it."

Okay, well...I'm still overjoyed at the support I'm getting. This is my first fanfiction I've ever written, so this is wonderful!

Much Love

Lark ^.^