A light wind ruffled blue hair, summoning Maribella's consciousness to reality from the dream she'd been having of days far more peaceful than this. It played with the locks of hair, tickled her nose and eyelashes. It caressed her cheek as it drew her there more and more. It would not be denied.

Maribella's nose scrunched up when she realized what was happening. She didn't want to wake up. She wanted to sleep; sleep until she was better. Wasn't there a human saying about how sleep healed the body when it was sick or something like that?

Blue-grey eyes finally slid open, taking in the scene before her. Beautiful grass trailed down to the edge of a pristine lake surrounded by tall trees. Wildflowers speckled the landscape, bringing whites, yellows and purples to the field. And along the bank of the sword, a black figure was performing drills with a sword.

It took a moment or two for the woman's mind to fully wake up and note a few very important pieces of information in the following order. One, there was something not quite right with the wind. It shouldn't be playing with her hair when a few feet away, not a blade of grass stirring. There shouldn't be wind around her alone. Second, the figure down by the lake was quite good. Their form was near perfection. No stumbling, or loss of balance. She could probably learn from them. Third, the sword that was being used was a katana, and what a beautiful piece it was too.

Last of all, but the most important… she couldn't breathe. Now that probably should have been the first thing her brain realized. It should have occurred to her to check her body over before taking in the beautiful landscape, or the skill of the figure a good three hundred feet from her. She had never in her life awoken literally out of breath.

Panic broke into her sleep addled mind and she pushed herself up, struggling to take a breathe; anything to keep her alive. She wasn't going to suffocate damn it! She was an air demon as well as a water demon and there were two things she could not die of without losing all respectability—suffocation and drowning. She refused to do either. What would that say about her if she did die of those two things?

Weak. Weak and pathetic, the air around her hissed. Guard down as you sleep, my dear? Do you think I let you live, just as a warning? You are going to suffer, sweet little thing, and through you, Koenma will suffer!

The voice on the wind let out a laugh which echoed as it drifted away on the sudden gust of wind out over the world before her. Air surged into her struggling lungs again and she was left gasping.

What… the… hell!?

The demon near the lake turned to look at the house for maybe the fifth time during his training, to check up on the latest ward of Koenma to find her awake and gasping for air. He'd still felt the presence from before, but couldn't quite lock onto it. "What's wrong with you now?" he demanded as he moved up towards the porch she sat on.

Maribella's gaze snapped to Hiei as she recognized his voice. She pushed herself up, holding up a hand to keep him away.

"Fine." The word could barely be heard even by someone with exceptional hearing. It was a wheeze more than anything else. Hiei did however halt his advance up to the house, watching her carefully. Something obviously had happened and he didn't like not having a clue what it was. "Fine," she repeated a few moments later, voice a little stronger this time. "Just fine."

Hiei eyed her and then sheathed his sword, crossing his arms across his chest. "You shouldn't sleep outside. Anyone could kill you without you ever waking up. If you cause me to stay here as a lapdog to Koenma any longer because you die, on us, I will personally make sure you burn in the afterlife," he threatened. Little did he care that he had spoken her current recurring nightmare. She would have to get over it eventually, or it would just hold her back.

She stumbled back across the threshold into her room, using what little of her power she could gather to force the glass wall shut between her and Hiei. It left her woozy, but feeling safe from the fire demon on the other side. Between the waking nightmare she'd just went through, and his threat, well, today was just basically turning into a bad day.

The fire demon in question kept eye contact with her after the woman slammed the glass, showing nothing but a bit of smug superiority. As if simple glass could keep him from taunting her. Heh. He held the her gaze a long moment before he simply… vanished.

Well, in reality he simply used his impressive speed to move to the top of the dojo. He'd felt the faint signature of a demon visitor when he'd gotten closer to where Maribella had lain. It was gone, but he didn't doubt that it would return if it thought her alone and terrified. Yes, yes he was totally using her as bait.

Maribella stared outside after Hiei had vanished, trying to keep the mounting panic attack back. She should warn Botan of the attack, but the question was, would she?

In the end, she simply turned away from the window and straightened her shoulders, looking around the room she would sleep in until she was returned to duty and Europe. It was so damn frilly. She'd really need to get it changed about a little.

"Tyrus," she called, summoning the dog from wherever it had been during the incident. The dog materialized next to her and sniffed the air around her. "Could you please go around the perimeter and check on what wards there are? And then go to my cousin and see if he would be willing to join me here. I'll talk to the others about it later."

Are you okay Ari? You smell like smoke? Tyrus asked.

"I'm fine. Please do what I asked," she snapped, shivering at the thought of smoke and fire. "I'm going to find the shower." She opened the nearest wardrobe and grimaced as she saw the 'cute' things that Botan had gotten her to wear for her stay. Since they couldn't risk leading the demon who had defeated her back to her home and the family she had lived with, Botan had been charged with getting her clothes to wear during her stay here. Worst idea ever.

She grabbed the first robe she found—a light yellow concoction with white ruffles on the edges that made her want to vomit—and left to explore. Her three rooms consisted of a bedroom, study slash relaxation room, and a large private bathroom.

It wasn't long before she was stepping into the shower. The feeling of water on her scared and tired flesh was heavenly. She was at home in the rain of water that fell on her from the shower head. Without clothes to hide her skin, one could clearly see the true extent of the scars. It was almost picturesque; the way the fire had scarred her in spirals and loops, rays and darts. They played along the skin of her body in ways a normal fire would never have thought of. The demon had played in the fire and the destruction it had wrought on her. And if it had really been him chocking the life from her earlier, he meant to continue with his torture.

She forced herself not to focus on the scars, and instead on getting the smell of smoke to go away. Tyrus hadn't been wrong about it. Now that she could focus on things other than Hiei and the choking, she could definitely smell the smoke.

On that subject, how dare he threaten her! Now that she was able to focus on it, how dare he! They worked for the same boss. She wasn't some stupid idiot! Well, not usually. She did have to admit that having fallen asleep outside wasn't exactly the smartest of her ideas, but who would have thought a spiritual and powerful place like this could be entered so easily. Even she could feel the wards here pulsing around them. Did the current inhabitants not renew them monthly as one was supposed to? How had the demon managed not only to get in but also managed to choke her without taking physical form? Was it possible he could become invisible? Or perhaps he had telekinetic abilities?

So many questions… She'd have to start a case file on this to straight her thoughts out, otherwise she'd just spin in circles which did no one any good, especially herself.

Maribella was so wrapped up in her thoughts and future plans that she didn't hear the door to the shower click open. Nor, as she rinsed clean her hair and scrubbed her face, did she see a towel rising up into the air and moving around her neck. Not until it was too late…