"Minamino…Minamino…." Natalie muttered as she looked through a phone book, "ugh! It's got to be in here somewhere. If Suichi thinks I'm going to forget what happened yesterday he isn't as smart as those ding-bat girls say he is."
The memories of Makai still remained as fresh in Natalie's memory as it did when the young man in black had dropped her on the street corner. Natalie was standing in a phone booth, looking through a thick phone book for the Minamino's address.
"Aha!" Natalie exclaimed in discovery.
There was a small tap on the glass of the booth. She turned to see an elderly woman with thick glasses that made her sagging eyes look as if they where bulging.
"Excuse me miss," The woman said in a shaking voice, "but I need to use the phone."
"Oh, sorry about that ma'am…" Natalie said before asking, "Hey, can you point me in the direction of Cherry Grove Street?"
"Oh of course darling, just walk down that street there," she pointed across the street, "and a bus will come that will stop at that street."
Natalie nodded and began to walk down the street.
"Creepy," Natalie muttered when she was out of ear shot of the woman, "some lady calls you darling when she doesn't even know who the hell you are…"
Natalie walked down the street, the hot sun blazing in the blue, cloudless sky, for an hour with yet to see any sign of a bus stop.
"How far is that dang thing?" she asked herself.
She continued to walk until she saw a street sign which read "Cherry Grove ST".
"Oh yea," Natalie muttered, "some bus stop lady."
Natalie walked down a street that seemed to be lined with trees and lawns that were covered with lush green grass. The houses seemed so nice in this neighborhood. She looked around the street in hopes of seeing Suichi outside of his house. Sure enough, he was sitting outside under a large oak tree with the black haired boy from the day before.
"Suichi..!" Natalie called as she began to walk up to him.
"Good afternoon Natalie-chan." Kurama greeted.
"Don't Natalie-chan me Minamino." Natalie said in an irritable tone as stood in front of the two boys, "you said you'd explain what all that stuff was yesterday."
"Stuff..?" Kurama said with a questioning look.
"Yeah, that weird creature attacking me, this guy," she pointed at Hiei, "dropping me flat on my ass on a street corner after taking me away from where ever the hell that place was."
"So you do remember," Kurama sighed.
"Damn right I remember," Natalie growled, "after I got home I was attacked by three guys that were acting like zombies."
"Did they have a blue tint to their skin?" Kurama asked
"Yeah..." Natalie said as she recalled the incident in her apartment, "They tried attacking me; I practically trashed my place trying to fight them."
"I'm surprised the insects didn't affect her." Hiei finally spoke up.
"Insects..?" Natalie had a confused look on her face, "what do bugs have to do with the town reenacting some zombie flick?"
"They weren't acting." Kurama said, "You may want to sit down, this could take a while to explain."
The red head got up, offering his seat, but Natalie simply sat down where she had stood.
"The insects Hiei was referring too," Kurama continued, "were the Makai insects."
"What..?" Natalie looked at him.
"Makai insects," Kurama repeated, "they burrow inside your ear and posses you. The Makai whistle is what was controlling them."
"Okay…" Natalie said, "So that means those guys that attacked me were being controlled by bugs that were being controlled by some whistle?"
"Yes." Kurama nodded, "Any more questions?"
"What was that place I landed?"
"Excuse me?" Kurama looked at her.
"That place," Natalie replied, "I fallowed you through some weird tunnel thing or whatever. The sky was red and I was attacked by that weird creature."
"Ah, that would be Makai." Kurama answered.
"Makai..?" Natalie looked at him with a confused look.
"It was the demon world." Kurama said, "And that creature was a demon."
"A weak one I'd say." Hiei added.
"No one asked your opinion." Natalie said, glaring at him.
"And no one asked to hear your annoying voice." Hiei said in a cold tone.
"Are you trying to start a fight?" Natalie barked.
The next thing Natalie knew, she was crouching with one hand in front of her and the palm of her free hand upside down, her forearm locked at her side, pointing at Hiei. The same warm, tingling sensation was in her palm again. Kurama and Hiei were both staring at her with disbelieving looks on their faces.
"What?" Natalie asked in a defensive tone.
"How…" Kurama began as he stared at the hot pink ball of energy in her hand.
Natalie glanced down at her hand and jumped, falling off balance, "How am I doing this!"
"Natalie," Kurama said in a serious tone, "Are you aware of something called spirit energy?"
Natalie, who had been staring at her hand, looked up at him, "Spirit what?"
"Let's go inside," Kurama suggested, "It's getting hotter outside, it will be more comfortable in my room."
"Pervert!" Natalie snapped, jumping to her feet.
"I don't mean it in that kind of way!" Kurama exclaimed.
"Well how the hell did you mean it then?" The human girl growled.
"I mean my mother is inside and she doesn't know about any of this, so we'll have privacy in my room."
Natalie watched Hiei jump in to a tree as a feeling of awkwardness washed over her.
"Mother," Kurama called through the house, "I will be in my room with a friend."
"Oh?" The human woman looked out from the kitchen, "Hello there…"
"Um… How'd you do?" Natalie said with a small bow.
Kurama's mother smiled and went back into the kitchen as Kurama lead Natalie up the stairs. Once in the red heads room, Natalie noticed Hiei was already on the window ceil.
"Alright," Kurama said, sitting on the chair next to his desk, "Spirit energy is a form of control you have on your own energy."
"Uh-huh…" Natalie leaned against the wall, crossing her arms, "Two questions Suichi."
"Yes?"
"How do you know this, and how do I know you aren't making this up?"
Kurama looked at Hiei for a moment. Hiei looked back. In Natalie's eyes it seemed as if the two boys were mentally talking to each other on whether or not they wanted to tell her.
"Can you keep a secret?" Kurama finally asked
"Sure..." Natalie said as a curious look spread across her face.
"Hiei and I are demons from Makai. We know about spirit energy because we ourselves have different forms of it and we recently helped to spirit detective's defeat the four saint beasts." Kurama began.
"Are you serious?" Natalie laughed, "You, perfect Shuichi Minamino, a demon?"
"My real name is Kurama." He said, ignore Hiei's annoyed grunt.
"So then 'Kurama' why are you here on earth?"
Kurama explained how he found his way to the human world and how he and Hiei had gotten involved with the spirit world.
"You really are serious," Natalie said, "Aren't you?"
Kurama nodded while Hiei just stared out the window.
"So…. Would I be considered a demon since I can use spirit energy?" Natalie asked.
"No you fool." Hiei said, looking at her.
"Okay then demon boy," Natalie said in a cool tone, "Show me the difference then."
"Natalie…" Kurama began, but it was too late.
Natalie felt a small chill around herself as Hiei's pale skin began to turn green. He threw his black cloak off, revealing several opening eyes along his chest and arms. For a moment, Natalie merely stared.
The next moment Hiei had trapped the human girl against the wall, his hands blocking her from moving left or right.
"Do you comprehend the difference now?" Hiei asked.
"Am I supposed to be scarred?" Natalie asked, looking Hiei straight in the eyes.
Hiei seemed taken aback by this comment for a moment. To Kurama's surprise, a small chuckle passed Hiei's lips.
"This girl has a lot of brass." Hiei said as he walked back to the window, grabbing his cloak.
Kurama opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a high pitched beeping from his clock.
"Oh my," He said, "It's already seven thirty."
"I should get home." Natalie said as she opened the door. "I have some more questions though, drop by my place tomorrow."
Natalie wrote her address on a piece of paper on Kurama's desk.
"Alright, I'll come by tomorrow." Kurama said.
Natalie nodded, "See you boys later."