OMG, the long awaited chapter 7! At least I hope it is, lol! Well, go read my profile for updates and stuff; I have some other oneshot fics in the works, but I will hopefully update this a little over the summer! Enjoy!

As usual, nothing but the plot belongs to me…and the reaper demon; I haven't seen the last season of YuYu, and it's been a while since I've watched them, I'll admit, but I don't think they've come across something like this. If they have, kudos to YuYu's creator and shame on me for not seeing/remembering it! Anyway, onward!

Chapter 7

Serena sighed from her position on the cool floor of the cave Kuronue had found. She wasn't feeling so well in this heat. Was it because she was covered in bandages? Or something else? 'I'm dead, I shouldn't be over heating like this.'

And she shouldn't be so tired, either.

She hadn't felt tired since the day of the attack as the demon drained her of life, and then she felt nothing.

But now, her limbs felt like lead, her legs were screaming at her to lay down and rest, and her eyes were burning. 'Gods, I wish this would just stop,' she wearily thought, flinging her arm over her eyes, closing them.

From on the other side of the cave, Kurama saw her weariness. 'Why is she looking so tired,' he wondered as he leaned into the rock behind him. 'What do you think, Yoko?'

There was a pause before the spirit fox mentally sighed. –I don't know, Suiichi, but there is a sense of weariness there in her eyes.-

-I overheard Urameshi talking with the oaf; she's getting weaker.- Hiei stepped out of the shadows, watching the emotions fly over Kurama's face.

-Weaker?- Kurama asked, eyebrows knitting together. –How is that possible?- Her powers should be keeping her alive.

'But only for so long, apparently,' Hiei replied, 'because Kuwabara says he feels her aura weakening.'

Kuwabara's powers were hardly reliable, but Kurama felt that the slightly daft Spirit Detective was right. Seeing her fling her arm wearily over her face only cemented what Kuwabara was sensing. 'Why haven't they told us yet then?'

Hiei shrugged, the fading light of the day casting dark shadows over the kroomie's face. 'I don't know, but I expect we'll find out soon.' With that, he decided he would give Serena a break in her training for the night, but stepped out of the cave to hone his own skills, giving Serena a dismissive wave when she sat up in question.

Serena was glad when Hiei shook his hand at her to tell her training was off for the night. 'I don't think I'll be able to even lift my sword,' she thought as she fell back to the ground. Hopefully this weakness would fade sometime soon; she needed all her strength to fight the reaper demon in the tournament.

Yusuke walked over to her and knelt beside her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Hey, you ok?"

She nodded, a bright, fake, smile crossing her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to cool down a bit is all. Gotta say though, I'm glad we left Touya behind; he'd probably have melted by now."

Yusuke grinned thinly as his sister tried to crack a joke. "Yeah, he'd be a huge puddle by now." Sweeping her bangs from her face again, he gave her a gentle grin before he made his way over to Kurama and Hiei. "Kuwabara says she's getting weaker. Did either of you come across anything in our research that might tell us why?"

Hiei shook his head, "I didn't find anything that might have helped."

Suiichi and Yoko thought about it for a while, sighing in frustration when nothing came to mind. "I can't recall," Suiichi finally replied, his hand rubbing his chin. Changing the subject, he asked, "Do you know how far away we are from the mountains?"

"Another few days, I'd say," Kuronue interrupted as he came to stand in the small circle, their eyes flitting over to Jin who was fanning Serena with a small cyclone.

"She might not last that long," said Yusuke. "She's so tired right now; you can feel it coming off of her."

The other members of the small group had to agree.

The next day saw no improvement in Serena's state. Yusuke had almost gone off the deep end when his sister's eyes were closed, expecting the worst. In a sudden snap decision, he prodded her shoulder, relieved and shocked when he saw her open her eyes like she'd been…sleeping. 'But she doesn't sleep in that form,' Yusuke tried to tell himself. That could only mean that his sister's status was worsening.

The small team had been walking for a while out in the hot midday sun, Suiichi pondering as to why Serena was getting tired. 'Could it have anything to do with the fact that we're heading towards an area with high negative spirit energy? Maybe fighting inside and outside forces is too much.'

Yoko pondered for a second before mentally shrugging. –I don't know, you might need to ask someone about it. Maybe you can get someone at Koenma's palace to look it up.-

'We may have to do that,' he replied as he saw Serena leaning against her brother for support. Even her wings were dropping in exhaustion, her eyes hooded as she tromped along side her twin. Pulling out his communicator, he fell to the back of the group. "Botan?"

She appeared on the small screen in her reaper's outfit. "Oh, hello Kurama," she said in her British lilt. "How goes the mission?"

"Not good I'm afraid. Serena's getting weak; she was actually 'sleeping' this morning." He hated to admit it, but both he and Yoko had been scared out of their wits when he saw Yusuke tap her shoulder, worry heavy in his eyes.

Botan frowned as she tapped her chin with her oar. "That's not good. Did you want me to see if I could find something in our libraries as to what it could be?"

Kurama nodded, "I would appreciate it, Botan. Yoko and I both think it could possibly be the fact that she's fighting the corruption and the negative energy we're getting closer to."

"Makes sense," she muttered softly as she walked through the halls to the grand library. "Alright, I'll get back to you when I have something. Botan out."

Clicking the small compact shut, he jogged to catch up to the rest of the team. Just as he pulled up the rear, a rumbling began under their feet. 'Oh no, not what we need,' he thought as he pulled out a rose, staying close to Serena.

"Now what?" shouted Yusuke as he let his sister rest against Jin, readying his Spirit Gun at anything that moved.

"I sense a strong spirit energy comin' from below us!" Kuwabara cried as his sword appeared.

A split second later, a geyser of sand flew up from the ground, causing everyone to splutter as it went into their eyes and mouths. When the sand finally settled, a huge scorpion stood before them, his claws almost too small for its body.

Kuwabara smiled toothily at it, "No prob! His claws are tiny!"

"Which only means that his poison is highly toxic!" Serena shouted from Jin's shoulder. "Don't you ever pay attention in biology, Kuwabara?" Her yell mirrored Yusuke's as her temper flared.

The orange boy's eyes went wide and his face turned white as a sheet as the creature's tail reared up behind the sun, light glinting off its huge, black stinger. "That's one big tail."

"MOVE!"

Everyone in striking distance leapt away as the tail came screaming down, pounding harshly into the sand before rising again, ready to strike, the scorpion hissing.

"Long distance attacks will be best," said Kurama as he pulled his arm back, aiming for its legs. Maybe if he could immobilize it, they would have a chance. Flicking his wrist out, the whip sailed to the three legs on the right side of its body.

The scorpion lashed out with its small claws, effectively cutting the whip in half before it turned to the next closest target: Kuronue.

The bat demon threw out his scythe, hoping to cut off a leg or two, but it met the same fate as Kurama's rose whip: the chain was shattered by the demon's deceptively small looking claws.

Yusuke was up next, brandishing his fist. "SHOT GUN!" Millions of tiny bullets of light sailed from his hands, being deflected by the scorpion's tough outer shell. "Well what now? No one can get close enough!" Each time someone tried getting close, the tail would slam down, and each time someone tried throwing something, it was deflected by the claws.

Serena leaned heavily on Jin. "Do you think you'd be able to do anything?"

He shook his head, "I'd jus' be able to blow at it a little; it's too big to get rid of it and my wind attacks won't do any good against the armor."

Hiei unsheathed his sword, hoping his agility would be good enough. Blinking out of sight, he appeared just above the demon's tail, swiping at it to cut it off.

The demon hissed as the large stinger was removed, spraying green blood everywhere. It suddenly went berserk and flew forward, its claws snapping menacingly as the large creature moved faster than it seemed able to.

Serena shoved Jin out of the way as the large black blur raced towards them, using her momentum to also push herself out of the way, curling up in a ball as the scorpion's legs sailed over her head, missing her by inches. The creature stopped over her, a leg rising into the air, coming down inches from her face.

"Serena, get out of there!" Yusuke's heart stopped when Serena's form disappeared under flying sand and flailing limbs. No one could get close enough to grab her from harms way, the scorpion still snapping in random directions in its rage.

Lifting her hands from her eyes, Serena looked at the scorpion's underbelly. Surely there had to be a weak spot here. Pulling at a feather in her wing, she willed her energy into it before tossing it randomly, cursing when a small 'tink' sounded. Eyes darting around, she saw a spot of brown on its belly. Aiming for that, she threw another feather, crying out in triumph as the scorpion screeched. Then it occurred to her that she might not want to be underneath it. Scrambling on her hands and knees, she made it out from under it just as the body smashed to the ground.

"SERENA!" Yusuke shot forward as Serena pulled herself out of the small sand dune the scorpion created when it fell. He pulled her up, examining her before tightly pulling her into a hug. "Oh my God, are you ok?"

She hugged him back tightly, feeling his heart pounding through his shirt. "I'm fine Yusuke, I'm fine." Pulling away from him, she looked briefly down at herself. "See, not a scratch." But now she felt extremely tired, and it showed.

"Now you're tired though," said Yusuke as he picked her up. "Come on, we've gotta find shelter, and fast."

The others agreed with him as they walked around the body of the huge demon, eyeing it warily before rushing to catch up to Yusuke, who was already a fair distance away.

Kurama took up the rear again, angry at himself for not being able to help Serena in her time of need. The large demon had not been overly powerful, just difficult to deal with; it had 'three' weapons, after all.

From his subconscious, Yoko had to agree. –It was rather weak, but still.- The spirit fox huffed. –Why hasn't Botan called us back yet?-

'We only made the call a few minutes ago. Remember when we were all trying to look for a cure and how long it took?'

-But we don't have time!- Yoko exploded as he 'paced' in their shared mind.

'Don't you think I know that?' Kurama shouted back just as loud. 'It's all we can do right now though, that and take care of her.' He looked back to the front at Yusuke carrying his younger sister, her wings draping weakly over his arms, curled into his side. 'I don't want to lose her any more than you do.'

After half the day had been walked away, the small group started seeing some vegetation on the ground. Looking further into the distance, the dark line they had seen the previous day turned out to be a forest. "Well, there's your forest, Kuronue," said Yusuke, smirking slightly.

Kuronue glared back at the older Urameshi sibling before placing his hat back on his head. "Haha, very funny Urameshi."

Serena curled tighter into Yusuke's arms, "You're being too loud, Yusuke," she mumbled quietly, eyes clenched tightly shut.

Her brother stopped his bantering with Kuronue, eyes softening. "Sorry Serena. Come on guys, we gotta find some shelter."

Kuwabara stopped just short of entering the forest, his face taking on that familiar shade of pale it was so fond of turning. "Wait a second guys. This forest is really evil."

Hiei glared at Kuwabara, "Of course it's evil you monkey, it's at the base of the Hakeshi mountain range, where no one goes." His voice was sarcastic as he glared at the pale faced Kuwabara.

"No," said Kuwabara, shocking everyone present when he didn't come back with a 'shrimp' comment. "There's an evil aura here, it's pretty strong."

Jin looked at Serena, who was barely responsive in her brother's arms. "D'ya think there could be some kinda monster guardin' the sword?"

'That could also be the reason why Serena's feeling under the weather,' thought Suiichi. 'The demonic aura of whatever is in the mountain could be making her weak.' Pondering for a second more, he poked Yoko. 'Do you know if anything could be up there?'

-I can't recall anything,- replied to spirit fox, irked that Suiichi had poked him. He was paying attention! -Has Botan called back yet?-

Kurama ducked under a low hanging tree branch, 'I would have told you if she had.'

It was then that Yoko noted the change in scenery. –We're in the forest at the base of the mountain now?- He received a mental nod in response. –How is she?-

Green eyes tinted lightly with gold looked at Serena, still being carried by her brother. –She doesn't look good.-

'I know.' Suiichi replied. He reached a hand inside his pocket and fiddled with the communicator, willing it to ring. 'Come on Botan, call us back.'

'Fox.'

Kurama glared at Hiei. 'Must you call me that?'

A few steps ahead of him, Hiei shrugged, eyes elsewhere. 'Are you talking to yourself again?'

'Very funny, Hiei,' he replied. 'Do you know if there are any creatures living in the forest that could be giving off an aura like that?'

The kroomie shook his head, 'I've never traveled to this area before,' he said with a shrug. 'But if there is something here, it could be throwing off an aura that is affecting Serena.'

'That's what I figured as well,' said Kurama, running a hand through his red hair. 'I contacted Botan to see if there was anything in the books that could help us.'

Hiei nodded, refusing to let the concern show on his face. 'The blue haired onna better get back to us soon; the younger Urameshi doesn't look like she's faring so well.' His red eyes lingered on her before he stepped up to the front of the group. "I'm scouting ahead," he mumbled before he dashed away.

Yusuke watched him go, a little surprised, before he turned to the others. "Well, I guess we'll just keep moving." Hefting Serena in his arms, he took a slightly trembling step forward.

Serena felt her brother's legs wobble a bit. Placing a fist on his chest, she placed her feet on the ground, despite his objections. "Hush Yusuke, you've been carrying me since yesterday." Her legs trembled as she held her own weight, her hand now tightly clasped on Yusuke's shoulder.

"You still need help," said Yusuke, frowning.

Kurama stepped forward, "I can carry her for a while." Without waiting for a reply, he easily lifted Serena in his arms, motioning with his head for Yusuke to continue walking. "Lead the way."

Yusuke lifted an eyebrow, a trick that he learned from Serena, and shrugged. "Fine."

Serena adjusted her wings as the small group began moving again. "So, how are you, Kurama? Haven't had the chance to talk with you for a while."

"Indeed, there are a lot of people here." A mental prod caused him to frown slightly. 'What?'

-That's the best reply you can come up with? You've got to be kidding me.- Yoko mentally slapped his own forehead in frustration.

Sending a very inhuman-like growl at Yoko, Suiichi turned back to Serena. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah, I asked how Yoko was doing."

Suiichi felt Yoko preen before he replied, "He's being his annoying self as always."

-HEY!- In a sudden decision, Yoko mentally tackled Suiichi, wrestling for control of the body.

Serena narrowed her eyes at Kurama when they started flashing between gold and green, the steady pace he had been walking slowing to nothing. "Kurama?" The eyes flashed gold, and the body grew a few inches in height, hair silvering, Kurama's yellow gi fading into a white toga.

"It's Yoko," he said, flashing a fanged grin. "And I'm doing fine, Serena." His cocky air vanished as he looked at her in concern, "But how are you doing?"

She let her head fall against his chest, "I'm so weak, which is weird. I'm dead, I can't feel anything. Or well, I'm not supposed to." She rubbed her forehead and draped her arm around Yoko's neck.

Yoko smiled slightly at the touch before getting serious again. "Tired? When did you start feeling like that?"

"As soon as we started getting closer to the mountain range," she said. "Before that, I felt as fine as I could be, considering I'm dead."

'Well, this could cement our theory,' Suiichi said. 'Now we just need to wait for a call from Botan to confirm it.'

Speaking of the blue haired reaper, the communicator in the back pocket of Yoko's breeches began to beep. Pulling it up by his tail, he tossed it to Yusuke. "Answer that," he said before walking up front by Kuronue.

Yusuke shrugged and did as he was told, hanging back slightly before answering it. "Yusuke."

"Oh," Botan blinked in slight confusion before shaking her head. "Well, I thought Kurama requested this information, but you'll do. He said he thought there was a possibility of Serena weakening because of the demon energy swirling around the mountain range and the corrupted energy in her own body." She paused a second and shook her head. "Unfortunately, there has been no record of another case like this; Serena is the first angelic adavism in our records, there are only theories up to this point. If she keeps getting weaker, I fear she will close her eyes one day and never open them again. If that happens, there is a spell I can give you so that she can share a soul with a member of your team."

Yusuke felt his stomach drop to his feet when Botan said there was no other record of another case like Serena's, but his hope rose again when Botan told him about the spell. "Yeah? What is it?"

Botan rattled off to him the procedure as she slammed a heavy book on the table. "And she has to be connected to a powerful spirit, preferably one that hasn't died; the bond won't be as strong since they've already been separated from their body." That ruled himself and Kuronue out, and Yusuke didn't trust Hiei or Kuwabara. He didn't really know Jin that well, so that left only one person.

Kurama.

"Would Kurama be ok?"

Botan nodded. "Yes, he's strong enough, even more so since there are two souls inside his body; she'll anchor to both."

Yusuke nodded again, deftly avoiding a low hanging branch. "Do we have to wait or what? I'd rather do it now."

The reaper shook her head, "No, you have to wait. Technically she's still 'alive', so to speak, her soul's still in her body. We could give her a spirit egg like you, but you're all in the middle of something. You'll have to anchor her to Kurama after she's 'died'." Botan paused again. "Will you still go after the sword?"

"It'll be pointless," Yusuke murmured, shaking his head. "But if the guy goes after her again-"

"Which he very well could," Hiei interrupted. "Reaper demons pride themselves on killing the most powerful beings, and since Serena's still alive…"

"He'll prolly come back fer her," said Jin, butting in as well.

Yusuke sighed. "So we'll continue the mission for the sword because we'll need it, but if she passes before the tournament, does it matter who kills the demon?"

Botan shook her head, "No, it won't matter by then. If she does pass before the sword is found, have her bind to Kurama's souls and get the sword. When you return, we'll give her a spirit egg after separating her from Kurama and she'll come back to life that way. At the tournament, anyone can kill the reaper."

"I will."

The boys stopped and turned to Serena, who was shakily walking towards them, a disgruntled Yoko Kurama not far behind.

"No-" Yusuke started, but was again interrupted.

"Yes I will, this thing wanted to kill ME and I will return the favor. I'm not some fragile flower, Yusuke, I can take care of myself!" Fury filled her eyes as she yelled at Yusuke, purple energy flowing around her, making her wince.

"Serena, you're hurting yourself, stop it!" Yusuke grabbed her hands, "Calm down."

She forced her anger away, the purple energy disappearing from her hands as she let her face fall into Yusuke's chest, the other members of the team watching on in dread as red tears fell from her cheeks. "Yusuke, I'm so tired…"

He hugged her, not minding the brown stains her tears were making on his green uniform shirt. "I know," he said gently, tears swimming in his eyes. "We will get you out of this, ok?"

Kuwabara cleared his throat, "I hate to interrupt, but something big's coming this way." In reply, Serena's legs gave out form under her as she grabbed her head, Yusuke helping her to the forest floor.

"He's right," she groaned, hands tightening around her head. Her body felt like it was being crushed in between two walls, the pressure building in her veins with no where to escape.

Yoko stepped protectively in front of Serena, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder before pulling a rose from his hair, it easily transforming into a whip. He flicked his wrist in anticipation, causing a resounding crack in the forest.

Kuronue pulled a scythe from his belt, fingering the handle as the demonic energy grew. It tingled at the edge of his senses, writhing and growing as the demon approached. "What do you think it could be?"

Yusuke glanced back at his sister. "You seem to guess what's coming," he said gently. "What do you know about wooded areas?"

Serena shook her head, looking around. "It looks like a tropical forest, so it could be anything from a reptile to a large cat. I don't see any animal footprints or anything, so it might be a demon in human form."

"A class B at least, perhaps a class A," said Hiei, his eyes narrowing, using his thumb to pop the blade of his sword slightly from the sheath.

Kuwabara shook for a moment before his hand started to glow. "Something tells me this is going to be a rough fight."

The leaves in front of them rustled, dark energy swirling from it before a man stepped forward. The scales that covered his body were dark brown, the pupils to his eyes slit like a snake's. He flicked out a pink tongue, the sides of his neck slightly fanning when he saw them. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The demon's voice was slick, with a slight Asian accent to it. His eyes swept over the small group, resting on Serena. "Ah, so a reaper got you, hm? So I guess you're looking for a certain sword?"

Yusuke stepped forward, his fists glowing. "Yeah, and what if we are?"

"I won't allow you to take it," he said.

Yoko's golden eyes narrowed. "What use do you have of it?"

The demon shrugged. "If that sword were to get out of where it's been sealed, the whole demon race would be in trouble. I don't know where you got your information, but it doesn't only just kill reaper demons; it would kill us all. So why are you defending her?"

"They're friends of mine and she's my sister," Yusuke growled.

The party grew tense as the demon smirked, revealing long fangs. 'Do you know what kind of snake it is?' Hiei sent to Serena telepathically.

'I just know he's a cobra, pretty poisonous, but nothing definite. I'd need to see the back of his hood,' she explained, hoping her projection made it to all the mind-reading demons on her team.

Yoko, Kuronue, and Hiei all made a small movement to let her know they'd heard her before their attention went back to the cobra in front of them.

"Ah, a revenge mission then. But prey tell, how is the girl alive? She looks like a very pretty vulture demon to me, and yet there's no…" he flicked his tongue in her direction, "heat, coming off her."

Serena narrowed her eyes at the cobra demon, dark power swirling around her hands before abruptly fading away. She took a small step back to gain her balance as dizziness swept her system. 'How do I feel dizzy?' she thought, her anger increasing when the demon laughed at her.

He doubled over, not caring that the other demons in the small clearing were glaring at him. "Ah, an angel, then? Ha ha ha! You're killing yourself with that dark, corrupted energy and my own dark spirit energy is making it worse. And you," he turned to Yoko, who was growling now, "You love her, don't you?"

Yoko snapped then, rushing forward with his whip aimed at the cobra's heart, but since he was blinded by rage, the cobra easily side stepped him.

As the snake turned, Serena caught a glimpse of a small circle on the hood. Dread ate at her stomach as a paragraph from her biology book came to her. "Monocle cobra!" she shouted. Their poison was one of the deadliest in the world.

In a swift move, the cobra's teeth closed around air instead of Yoko's neck as the spirit demon dodged sharply to the left. Skidding in the dirt, he tossed his hair of his face to look at the cobra who was smiling. "Your angel of death is correct."

More dark energy poured from Serena's body, making her fall to her knees. 'Why is this happening?'

"You're probably wondering why you feel so weak," said the cobra demon as he stayed back from a snarling Yoko. "It's because you're using the dark energy that corrupted your soul, exposing your weak spirit to it. You're becoming dependent on it, and it's killing you."

She waved the energy away as she pressed her hands to the forest floor, pushing herself into a standing position.

"Ah," he observed, slinking around a tree. "I see I have rendered the angel of death speechless, hm?"

Another wave of dark energy flowed from Serena's hands as her temper grew, swirling around her body in a dark cloud, eyes turning a deep purple.

"Serena, calm down!" Yoko shouted.

Her breath was ragged, her hands shaking from the force of the power rolling from her palms, her eyes clenching shut. 'What is this feeling?' Anger swamped her system, preventing her from any rational thought, and it was scaring her. It was like something else was taking control…

Kuwabara's eyes went wide as something seemed to burst from Serena's body, "Hit the deck!"

Serena's back arched backwards as she screamed, a large cloud escaping from her body and growing into a large figure, solidifying into a large man. His skin was as dark as his clothes, yellow eyes peering at the cobra with mild disinterest. On the other hand, the cobra was now shaking in fear as the figure put his arms out to the side of his body and spinning, dark power flying everywhere like a tornado.

The sky went dark as the small team fell to the ground, Kuronue grabbing his hat as the wind whipped around the clearing, small bursts of electricity charging the air around them.

Yoko's eyes were wide with worry as Serena was lifted slightly off the ground, her head thrown back in a silent cry, lightning bursting from her hands. Tears streamed from her cheeks, as if the attack was causing her great pain.

The cobra was picked up in the small gale, cat-like eyes wide with fright as little pieces of debris slashed at his skin. Soon a large dust cloud was whipping around the snake, cries of pain echoing through the forest as his skin was seared from his body. Moments later, the attack started to die down, the dust falling from the central cloud, revealing nothing of the demon but a pile of bones.

Yusuke watched in shock as the shadow broke contact from Serena's body, fading away and taking a small light with it, making him worry. He recognized it as a soul. Darting forward, he caught her body before it fell to the ground. "Serena, Serena!"

She was unresponsive as he slapped at her cheeks, fearing the worst. "Yoko, call Botan, we need that spell!"

Yoko fished for the communicator he'd put back in his pocket, calling Botan. The woman's face appeared on the screen, her smile turning to a frown when she saw the desperation on his face. "Botan, we need the spell!"

"Alright Yoko, she'll be bonding to yours and Suiichi's soul, so stand next to her and take her hand!"

He did as he was told, taking her small, cold hand in his larger warmer one. "And?"

"You've got to think about anchoring your souls to Serena's body to keep her here in the real world," she said quickly. "It's more of a feeling thing than actual chanting," she explained as Yoko sensed his spirit energy swirling around Serena's body. His was a bright gold, Suiichi's a blood red, dancing around her body before a tendril of each shot into her body and around her heart. He thought about how much he loved her, and how much he would miss her if she died, willing his spirit to chain her to the Earth, Suichii doing the same.

Serena gasped and sat up, clutching her chest as the pieces of spirit energy clutched at her hart, firmly gripping it before flowing into her body. Her eyes were clear, blue with green and gold flecks surrounding the iris, her skin rosy again, her breathing and heart rate fast and loud.

Seeing his sister alive again in his lap made Yusuke cry out in relief, snatching her hands from Yoko's as he hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face. "Thank God you're ok," he whispered into her hair. When she died, he felt something within himself snap, knowing it was the bond he shared with her as a twin had been severed.

Taking a deep breath and strangely thinking about how awkward it felt, she replied, "I'm fine Yusuke, I'm fine." Her heartbeat felt loud in her own ears, her breath thundering. "What happened?"

Kuronue stepped up beside the brother sister duo, standing over Yoko. "You don't remember what happened?" He saw her shake her head, grabbing it.

"I just was so angry…"

"Your anger took control of your mind," said Hiei, "and then the energy took control of your body and destroyed the cobra demon." His eyes wandered over to the pile of bones a few steps away, trying to keep the mask on his face as she grew extremely pale and started shaking like a leaf.

'I did that?' she thought. 'What happened to him to just leave bones like that?' Yoko's hands on her shoulder brought her from her thoughts. He shook his head, telling her she didn't want to know. "I'll take your word for it."

"Come on," said Jin gently, walking up to the front of the group, "we need t' find that sword and get back to the Spirit World so you can learn how t' use it."

Tearing her eyes from the skeleton was harder than she thought. She didn't feel comfortable around blood and gore (unlike her twin), but sometimes she just couldn't help it; it was darkly mesmerizing. After managing it, she marched next to Yusuke, her strength back. "So how am I alive now?"

"You're connected to Suiichi's and my soul," said Yoko as his eyes slowly faded to green and his silver hair splotched red, shrinking as Suiichi again took control of the body. "I'm guessing that's why your eye color has changed."

"Connected to you? What about my own soul? And my eyes?"

"It cannot be retrieved right now," said Boton's voice from the communicator. "It's in a very difficult place to reach since it was corrupted, and you don't have time right now for a spirit beast; soul bonding was the fastest solution. And your eyes are a mix between yours and the souls you're connected to."

She blinked, deciding to hash out the details later, merely shrugging as she rubbed at her eyes. "Ok, so was that demon the only one protecting the sword?"

Hiei shrugged, surprising the small party with the uncharacteristic action. "There may be more since he said if we got a hold of it, no demon would be safe."

"Does that mean only the pure of heart can use it?" asked Kuronue.

Kuwabara quirked his eyebrow at the tall bat demon. "Why would that matter?"

"Because stupid," said Yusuke, growing irritated, his earlier shock gone, "if it didn't matter, the demon would have had it and would be using it for his own gain."

"Hey, don't call me stupid!"

A sharp whistle cut through their bickering. "Shut up, both of you," Serena scolded, "If we don't get going now, another demon might make his way to it and 'guard' it." Shifting her wings, some grey feathers fell from them, a crisp and pure white replacing the dead grey.

Hey guys, there was chapter 7! Read and review, please!

-MoonFace01