As the days wore on, I became more and more convinced that the kiss had truly been a figment of the imagination of a possibly half-crazed girl with a gunshot wound to the head.

The boys, who were all temporarily living in Kurama's house, forced me to stay in bed for two more weeks, to be sure I was properly healed. Demons were very durable, and healed quickly, but I guess they didn't want to take any chances. Either that, or they thought that I was too much of a weakling to be able to handle it. But when they finally deemed me healthy enough to go back to my normal routine, Kurama didn't even mention the kiss, nor did he even act like it had happened. Maybe I was going mad?

I still was bothered by my weakness and the others' need to protect me. I had to get stronger, and learn how to fight as well as any of the four boys did. I couldn't allow them to protect me, and especially to get hurt protecting me, any longer.

Still more weeks passed. As soon as I was well enough, I began to attend school again. Somehow, the news of my being shot had leaked out and everyone in Meio knew about it. I went from being nearly invisible to an overnight celebrity. Even after two classes I got tired of my classmates' constant pestering.

After school, I all but begged Hiei to start training me in the martial arts. He agreed, albeit a litte reluctantly, saying that I shouldn't try anything too strenuous just yet. Ironic, considering he and the other Detectives never showed that much concern towards their wellbeing before charging into a fight. Besides that, I had had plenty of time to heal by now. More than enough. I was a demon, after all.

The training was harsh, reminiscent of that first day he had tested me, even though this was worse. After training each night, although it still made my heart race, and probably would continue to, I was getting a bit more inured to having Kurama tend to my wounds. Still, after three weeks of training with Hiei, and sometimes even Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama, I was good. At least where fighting without powers or weapons was concerned. I could fight better than Kuwabara, equal to Kurama, and almost as well as Hiei. Yusuke was still quite a bit out of my league, though. I did want to keep getting stronger and stronger, although I was already quite happy with how I strong I was getting now.

Controlling my demonic powers - lightning, super speed, and the heightened senses - was becoming like second nature to me. I had to admit, being a demon was pretty great. The worst down side was that I had developed a craving for the taste of blood (especially human blood) and I began to feel weak if I went without drinking any for a few days. I felt terrible about it, but Kurama told me it was natural for demons who had once been human (that was probably how the vampire legend began). Usually we got pig's blood for me from the butcher's shop, or human blood from the blood bank at the hospital.

My daily routine was completed by my job at night. I had long since bought all the software and hardware I would need, and had spent a whole day installing them and tweaking the computer system, so I was all set. Demons needed less sleep than humans, so I was able to work late into the night. I had quite a busy agenda, yet I was happier than I ever had been.

One day, while Hiei and I were taking a break from training, I finally got up the courage to ask a question I had been wondering a long time.

"Hey, Hiei, do you think it would be okay if I got a weapon of some kind? To fight with, like you?"

Hiei grinned, showing off his demonically sharp eyeteeth (mine were reminiscent of a vampire's too, but just a tad pointer than his), "I was hoping you'd ask for one someday. I've been thinking about it too and I know just what to get you. Leave it to me. You're ambidextrous, right? But you were born left-handed." When I nodded, his grin widened. "May I borrow your laptop for a while?"

I was a little confused at why he'd want it considering Hiei was all but technologically illiterate, but nevertheless I nodded and told him it was on my desk at home. Which I am sure he knew already, but it never hurts to be polite. After he left me alone, I stayed in the forest where we usually trained, drinking up the beauty of nature as the sun set.

When I got home, my laptop was gone and Hiei was no where to be found. I was frantic at the loss of my laptop, but Kurama calmed me, saying Hiei would be back in a week or so. At this, I forgot about the laptop momentarily, blushing furiously. A week alone with Kurama? How was I supposed to handle that?

Well, I would go mad, is how it turned out. I was crazy without my computer. And this wasn't just because I missed it. I could handle living without it for a while. It was just…Now I didn't have an escape from Kurama.

I'm not saying I disliked being around him constantly. In fact, I quite loved it. But it also hurt. I battled with myself trying to figure out his feelings towards me instead of just asking. Why kiss me (I decided that I could not have imagined something that amazing. It must've really happened), if he didn't care for me? But, if he did love me, why was he still treating me the same as always? Then there was the part of me that wished desperately (even though I knew this wasn't true) that the kiss had been the pathetic hallucination of the girl with the gunshot wound. I hoped that was it. The other options were either too painful or bewildering to consider. Let me just say, that week was mental hell.

Well, I did have one escape: school, of course. During the day, while I was at school, Kurama was at university. It was the one place I could go to get away from him. I tried to not make it too obvious how much I now enjoyed going to school. Kurama might correctly assume that I was avoiding him. Unfortunately, Kurama still insisted on training me ("We can't let your skills diminish just because your teacher is on a holiday. Hiei would be furious if he came back and found that you had been slacking off for a week."), so that was another tidbit of torture there.

Finally, after the longest week of my life, Hiei was back. I exhaled in relief when Kurama and I watched him come striding into the house. I felt the weight of the tension I had been carrying around lift off my shoulders. But, upon closer inspection, I found that he wasn't carrying any weapon besides his own. Just my laptop. He smirked superiorly at my confused look.

"Here you go. All you need." I took the sleek black laptop from him, but I didn't move. "You…Turned my laptop into a weapon, sir?"

"That, and more," Hiei seemed proud of himself. "Tell me, does your laptop seem any different than before?"

I glanced at Kurama. He wore a politely patient expression, which probably meant that he had already figured it out. I sighed, and turned back to the computer. I froze. Come to think of it, it did feel different. Extremely different. It was emitting demonic energy.

I held the laptop away from me and stared at Hiei in shock. "You turned my laptop into a DEMON?!" That was a pretty foolish thing to say, but what else was I to think? I didn't know of anything else with demonic auras. Luckily, in an odd occurrence, neither of the boys laughed at me.

"No, no I didn't. It's something else. Let me show you." He stepped forward and took the laptop from me. I watched as he held it, and I felt a surge of his demonic energy. To my astonishment, in a flicker of black 'light,' the laptop went from being the portable computer it was to a long Japanese sword in a sheath. Very long. Probably taller than me.

I gaped. I wasn't as surprised by the transformation. The concept was identical to that of Kurama's rose whip; how that with a little help from his aura, it changed from a harmless flower into a deadly weapon. I understood that much simply from seeing the transformation once. What I was more concerned with was -

"How the HECK do you expect me to wield that thing?!"

"Quite easily, in fact." Hiei replied with a smug grin. "Watch."

With that, he gripped both ends of the sword, one hand on the hilt, the other on the opposite end of the sheath. He pulled his hands away from each other. Instead of pulling on long sword out, he revealed two smaller ones. I blinked in surprise. The sheath, it seemed, was nothing more than a convenient carrying case and a deception.

I grinned. "Sweet!"

Hiei smiled, and put both swords back into the dual sheath. "And with just a little more energy…" The swords turned back into my beloved laptop with the same flash of dark light as before. I was impressed!

Hiei noticed my expression of delight. He tossed the laptop at me. "Here, you try."

My heart leapt in fear as I lunged to keep the laptop from smashing into the ground. Hiei laughed. "It's a lot more durable now than you can imagine. It's infused with a lot of demon energy. I doubt it would break even if you dropped it off a cliff. Try to make it change."

Kurama had explained before what it took to make something like this transform. I hoped it would work from theory. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated a small amount of my energy.

Sure enough, a moment later I held the surprisingly lightweight 'long' sword. I slid the swords out of the sheath and practiced a few swings while the boys watched. It felt oddly natural, and I enjoyed the light weight of the hilts in my hands.

"They're called chisakatana. It's a Japanese short sword, shorter than a katana but longer than the kodachi or wakizashi. It utilizes both strength and speed, but with more emphasis on speed. Which is your forte anyway. Besides, you're ambidextrous, so you'll be able to handle both weapons with ease. Since you're always going to take that laptop with you wherever you go, you'll always have your swords, too. What do you think?"

I sheathed the swords and changed them back into my laptop. "Perfect, sir. But, whose aura is this infused with, exactly?"

"Mine, of course. I don't want you walking around with some weapon made out of just any demon. I had to take the week to learn the process."

I smiled happily, and threw my arms around Hiei. I doubt he knew quite what to do, considering he probably didn't get hugged much. But, a moment later, he awkwardly returned my embrace. I smiled and hugged him tighter, closing my eyes. I loved him (I wasn't IN love with him, but loved him). A moment later, we broke apart. I saw Kurama watching us with a sweet smile. My heart soared. Never had anyone meant so much to me as these boys did. I don't know what I would do without them.

Meanwhile, back from my mind's musings, I developed a wicked thought. Suddenly, I tilted my face up and kissed Hiei on the cheek. Clutching my laptop to my chest, I ran away before he could catch me and do something unpleasant to me out of rage, or embarrassment. Probably both.