I ran for a few blocks, until I was sure that Yusuke and Keiko weren't following me. I stopped to catch my breath. Yusuke had said some nice things but I did not trust him. How could I? I really didn't know either of them and even if I did it was just a matter of time before they learned more about me and left. I wasn't about to deal with that pain all over again. Aside from all that. They were just a distraction from finding the monster that had murdered my mother.

I stopped near a bus stop to study the travel map that was hung up for patrons to view. A few weeks ago I had heard of this scary old woman who lived in the mountains, away from all signs of civilization. The rumors I had heard were that she was a strong fighter in her youth but now she was retired. Her techniques were said to be very strange, borderline paranormal and some even called her a psychic. I had a feeling that she was my first solid lead at finding anything out about what had happened. I scanned the bus map to see which route would get me the closest. I found that if I got on the bus stop next to the river it would take me part way to the mountain. The rest I would have to walk.

I suddenly had the sensation that I was being watched. I turned my head swiftly to look back over my left shoulder but there was no one there. I was sure I had felt someone though.. I turned and slowly started walking in the direction of the river. 'Could Yusuke and Keiko really have followed me?' I wondered as I walked I clutched my school bag tight. The road was empty of people who were no doubt preparing for the festival that was to start soon. There was no sound in the wind except for my shoes on the sidewalk. I walked a long still an uneasy feeling in my stomach as I did.

Then the clicking of my heels was interrupted by the sound of multiple feet dragging behind me. I turned and saw a group of four local thugs staggering behind me. They were reaching their arms out towards me and saying something but they were to far away for me to hear exactly what they were saying. I snorted and said, mostly to myself. "Isn't it kind of early to be this hammered?" I dropped my bag on the ground and made a fist with one hand cracking the knuckles against the other as they staggered closer.

The closer they got to me the more I could see that they weren't the average thugs I had thought they were and they were not simply intoxicated as I had thought. Then I saw it, the horns coming out of each of their heads and their teeth long and sharp like a wolves fangs. I swallowed hard unsure of what I was seeing but knowing in my heart that whatever it was it wash't a human.

Before I knew it the first one had staggered over to me and was grabbing for me. I dropped down toward the ground and out of his reach before leaning upward and upper cutting him in the gut. It felt like my hand had hit a brick wall and hurting my hand more then it could have possibly hurt the monster, who didn't even flinch. He reached down and grabbed a hold of me by the neck and lifted me off my feet as if I literally weighted nothing. I hung there in front of him as the other monsters caught up to his side.

He squeezed his fingers tight around my throat and I could feel the air disappearing from my lungs. I tried to scream but all that came out was raspy gasping for air and spit. I flailed my arms and legs as best I could but there was no use. I was already weak from oxygen deprivation and this monster was a million times stronger then anyone I had ever met.

My vision began to blur and my throat and lungs burned. I could feel him squeezing the life out of my body. 'I can't believe I'm going to die like this.. Isac… Sausuke!' I cried in my head. Suddenly my body felt warm inside and it was as if I had shot some kind of beam from inside myself. Some sort of indescribable pressure knocked his hands lose from around my throat. I crashed to ground and instinctively grabbed my neck as I gasped for air.'What was that?' I wondered in my head. 'Did I really do that?'

"Watch out you fool!" I heard a mans voice growl.

Still laying on the ground I turned my body to see the rest of the monsters moving toward me and the one that I had knocked over was starting to get back up. I was still weak and stunned from the attack and couldn't move. But the monsters were closing in on me. There was a quick black flash that passed before my eyes and the next thing I knew there a man standing between me and the monsters. He wasn't exceptionally tall but he was dress in a black cloak and black pants and boots. His hair was also black and it was spiked straight up in the air and added a few inches to his size. He was squatting down in front of me with a sward in his hand and his back facing me. I was stunned to see this man. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at me. 'Are you alright?' He hissed but somehow didn't sound like he really cared if I was or not.

"Look out!" I manage to muster enough energy to shout a warning to him as the monster lunged for him. Using his sword he slicked the air in front of the monster and the sheer force of the swing knocked the monster down. He lunged at another one, grabbing it around the waste and knocking him down as well.

Another one came after me while my protector was distracted fighting the rest. It picked me up and those me like I was nothing and I hit the ground a few feet away. "Ah!" I screamed as I felt a rib snap on impact.

My protector knocked the others out with a final smack of his sword and ran, with speed so fast that I couldn't even seem him move. It was as if he had teleported from far away and was in front of me before I could even blink. The pain from my broken bones were to much for me to handle. I closed my eyes and faded out of consciousness.

"You Idiot. Why would you bring her here?" An old woman's voice said.

"pft. Be glad I did anything with her. I should have left her there to die and it would have been through no fault of my own." The male voice said.

"Again. you're not thinking, she's a human. Koenma would have your butt if she died because of a demon related issue. I thought you had the breach figured out." The raspy female voice complained.

"Hmph. Then thats why I brought her here. Why do you ask questions you know the answer to you old hag? I do have the breach sealed. I don't know how these parasites got in here." He huffed, clearly annoyed.

I tried to open my eyes but they were to heavy and much of my body was still sore but not as sore as I would have thought after the beating I had taken. I relaxed even though I had no idea where I was, for some unexplainable reason I felt safe. I drifted back to sleep.

When I opened my eyes again it was dark outside. I slowly sat up and felt the blood rushing to my head. I grabbed my head with my hands and took a deep breath.

"You're awake." The woman's voice said. I looked over and saw a short old woman with a wrinkled face and graying hair sitting by the window with a lit cigarette hanging from her lips.

"Who are you?" I asked groggily and rubbed my eyes. "Where am I?" I asked looking around. "Wheres that guy? The one who saved me?" I didn't see him anywhere.

The woman took the cigarette from her lips and puffed a smoke ring before answering. "I'm the psychic Genkai and you are in my home." She stated calmly. "The man who saved you is…"

"Im right here." I recognized the deep masculine voice of the man who had saved me. He stepped out from the shadows.

I gasped, startled because I had no idea he was in the room with us.

"Good, she's awake. Now I can leave." He huffed and turned towards the door.

"Wait. What's going on? Who are you and who were those…" I said trailing off. 'What do I call them? Were they really more monsters?' I wondered to myself.

"Pathetic human. I only saved you because I was trailing those demons anyways. Don't think you're special. And don't think I care enough about your species to tell you my name." He growled.

"I…" I stuttered. I wasn't feeling very safe at that moment.

"I'm going. Tell the detective and his bafoon that I'll be in touch." He said before walking out of the room.

The old woman puffed on her cigarette again before taking smirking. "Don't let him bother you. He's not use to human interactions."

"What?" I said confused.

"It will all make sense soon. The others will be here before to long. Theres a bathroom down the hall." She said as she stood up and walked out of the room.

I stood up slowly because I was still stiff but surprisingly enough I wasn't in much pain at all. I walked out of the room and into the bathroom. I stood in front of the sink and turned on the cold water. I cupped my hands together and splashed some water on my face. I used a hand towel to dry my face off and then looked in the mirror. There wasn't even so much as a bruise on my neck which startled me, seeing as I almost had the life chocked out of me. I ran my finger across my neck. 'Nothing makes sense' I thought.

"Genkai!" I heard a voice from the hallway that sounded familiar.

I turned the water off and walked out into the hallway.

"What's up? Why'd you call us?" Yusuke asked, his eyes widened when he saw me. He was standing in the entrance way with another boy around his age who was tall with orange hair. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, almost shouting at me.

"Uh, Im not really sure." I shrugged and felt just as surprised to see him as he did me.

"So you know each other? That will make this easier. Why don't we all sit down?" Genkai offered us all a seat at her table and some tea. I sat down next to Yusuke and Genkai and the other man sat across from us.

"I'm Kuwabara by the way." The orange haired man said to me.

"Oh, I'm Ryoko." I said realizing I hadn't introduced myself to them.

"So what's going on Genkai?" Yusuke asked with a serious tone and for once a serious look on his face.

Genkai sighed. "Well. I don't know all the details myself. But Hiei told me that around three this afternoon this girl, Ryoko, was attacked by some humans who were infected by the a parasitic demon. She was almost killed before Hiei was able to intervene and flush out the demons. During which he reported that she showed some signs of spiritual awareness."

"What? Hiei? Demons?" I repeated.

Genkai nodded. " Yes, Demons are real. Hiei, that man who rescued you, is actually a demon himself."

"But don't worry, he's not so bad." Yusuke smiled.

I sat there in silence for a few moments.

"You don't seem that shocked." Kuwabara said surprised. "When I first found out I was really freaked out."

"Well.." I said and looked down at my lap.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked.

"Well. I think I've seen one before." I told him. "it was a long time ago but I've been trying to figure out where and what it was since then." I said my voice shaking a little.

Genkai reached out and put her hand on my reassuringly. "It's alright. We can do our best to help you understand it. You see there are different worlds that run parallel to the one we all live in. There is the spirit world which you may know as where King Yama resides. This is where souls are sent to be processed after death and then are given their proper judgment and are sent wherever they will go for the rest of time. And then there is the demon world, a world full of the most horrible monsters of your nightmares. These demons have been held there for thousands of years but recently they've been more active and have been sneaking through between worlds." She explained.

As crazy as it should have sounded I believed them and I knew that they weren't crazy.

"I'm sure it's a lot to take in." Yusuke said. He looked at Genkai. "Do we know where they came from and why they were after her?"

"Hiei closed the last break between the two worlds weeks ago." She said with a shrug. "So we really have no idea where they came from. It's likely she was just a random attack but I think we should keep an eye on her just to be safe." Genkai suggested. She looked over at Yusuke and Kuwabara. "I want the two of you to train her and help her awaken her spiritual powers. Along with Kurama and Hiei of course."

"You want us to train her?" Kuwabara asked. "Do you think thats a good idea? What about Koenma?"

"These orders are directly from Koenma." She explained, shutting any protests down.

"Who's Koenma?" I asked looking between the three of them.

"He's kind of like my boss." Yusuke shrugged. "Hes King Yama's son. Im a spirit detective. Im basically in charge of keeping the demons a bay." He grinned and boasted about himself. "And Kuwabara is like my side kick."

"Side kick?" Kuwabara huffed. "Hey! Im not anyones side kick" He said grabbing Yusuke by the collar of his shirt.

"Hahaha. Sorry sorry." Yusuke said laughing.

I snickered a little to myself. This was all happening so fast. I should have been much more afraid but surprisingly I wasn't frightened to learn that demons were real at all. I was overjoyed with the idea that I could finally obtain my revenge on the monster that had murdered my mother and I would find a way to make Yusuke and his friends help me.

"Knock it off you Dimwitts." Genkai growled and they both stopped and became completely silent. "You both should walk her home tonight. I've no doubt that Hiei will be keeping a close eye on her place tonight. Tomorrow I want you two to bring her back here with Kurama. to begin her training and to plan our next move." She explained.

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded. "Sounds like a good plan" Yusuke said and we all got up to leave.