I still don't own any of this except a few characters. Everything else belongs to someone else. Moving on.

~*~

Sera woke to a loud argument and snarling. She tumbled out of bed, fell on Kurama, and ran outside, dragging the bed sheets with her.

Outside was a mess. The sun hadn't yet fully risen, yet all of Belle's bishis were up. Raenef was sitting with Duzell, who was apparently protecting the boy. Duo was with those two, though his eyes were wide and he looked scared. Eclipse and Nyx were snarling at each other, both of them looking extremely pissed off, while Lucifer debated getting between the two. Yoko, Kuronue, and Hiei all had taken up spots around the camp, looking out into the woods. All three looked a little strained.

"What's going on?" Sera asked, walking over to Eclipse and Nyx. Eclipse turned to look at her and she paused at the pain and fury in his gaze.

"Belle's gone," Nyx growled. His eyes were glowing slightly, fangs poking out over his lips.

"Gone? What do you mean? She just wandered off?" Sera asked, frowning.

"No. Gone as in taken," Eclipse said softly, his voice emotionless and blank. "She is much more than three miles away from us, and has been for an hour or more."

"Well can you track her?" Sera asked, looking between the two. "If we can figure out what direction she went then we can go after her."

Nyx growled softly while Eclipse glanced at the others. Lucifer nodded and moved over to the others, rounding them all up and telling them to go back into their bishiballs. Belle's belt and all her things were still resting on the floor of Eclipse's PD room. Raenef walked over to Sera and looked up at her with teary eyes. Sera picked him up, murmuring to him as Eclipse and Nyx both looked around, trying to find Belle.

"There." Nyx had frozen, staring off to the west. "She's that way somewhere."

"She is far," Eclipse said softly, staring in the same direction. "I do not know if I can reach her from this distance. I can get us closer but not to her."

"Anything will do," Nyx snapped. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" When two pairs of glaring, glowing eyes fixed on her, Sera flinched. "We can't leave without letting the others know."

"So wake them and tell them," Nyx snarled, advancing on Sera slowly. "We're leaving."

"No." Sera took a deep breath. "Eclipse and I will go. You should wait here and wake up Anna and Shadow and tell them."

"There is no way in Hell I'm staying here while you two go!" Nyx yelled, fury lacing his voice and making Sera flinch. "Eclipse and I should go without you, thrice-damned human fool!"

Sera swallowed hard. "You might need me," she said. "I can help. So can my bishis. Just let me tell the others and we'll go, I swear."

Eclipse nodded before Nyx could say anything. "Do it fast. We need to get closer."

Sera nodded and ran to the closest PD door. Throwing it open, she found Al, Vlad, and Anna in the room, with Anna curled up and Vlad sitting next to her, asleep. Al was sprawled out on the floor and almost sort-of snoring. "Anna! Get up!"

The two bishis responded before their trainer did. Al woke up with a groggy murmur of, "Where'ze fire?" Vlad snapped to full attention, looking at Sera.

"What is it?" Anna asked sleepily, yawning. "It's too early…"

"Belle's gone," Sera said hurriedly. "We think kidnapped. She's too far away. I'm taking my bishis and hers and Nyx and I'm going to go get her."

"Mmhm." Anna settled down again, clearly not awake enough. Sera growled in frustration.

"I'll tell her," Vlad said softly. "Go. Before Nyx blows something up." A faint smirk twitched his lips before he nodded to the younger trainer, returning his attention to his own trainer.

Sera nodded and ran back to Eclipse and Nyx. While she'd been talking they had gathered her things and handed her the belt and her backpack. Before she'd even finished buckling the belt, each had grabbed one of her arms and all three vanished.

~*~

Amber eyes narrowed slightly as three figures appeared on a screen in front of him. "This might be troublesome," a cold, male voice murmured to himself. "You see this as well?"

"Yes." An equally cold, though younger male had replied. Both of them sat in silence for a moment, the light of the screens casting their faces in sharp relief, making them both ghostly pale. "You going to tell him?"

"Might as well." The first figure rose, towering over the second and the computers and TV screens around them. "I've got a better chance of surviving his wrath than you."

"Just because you're his second," the second voice growled, now sounding annoyed. He huffed as he turned back to the screen, which was now tracking the three figures. "Time to make things more interesting…"

The first figure rolled his eyes and left the younger to play with his electronics and instead went to inform their master. Someone would have hell to pay if they got in before he finished his experiments, and he sure wasn't going to be the one to pay it.

~*~

Nyx frowned as he paused. "I can't tell any farther than this," he said softly, nodding to the trees and the mountains around them. "I know she's close, but I can't tell where she is." He growled and glared up at the sky as the sun rose behind the mountains, chasing the darkness away.

"I cannot tell exactly where she is either," Eclipse said softly. He carried Belle's things with him, his eyes narrowed as he looked around. "We will simply have to walk around until we find her."

"I doubt she's just wandering around out here, Eclipse," Nyx said sharply. "I seriously doubt it."

"So do I," Eclipse said calmly. "However, once we get close enough to her, we'll feel it. So we had best be looking." Now that he was close enough to his trainer that there was no threat of madness, Eclipse was much calmer, more methodical.

"Wouldn't this be easier with more people?" Sera asked, glancing at them. "I mean, if there's a lot of ground to cover, then why not have everyone out and have them split up into a few groups?"

Both men paused to look at her. Sera fidgeted under the scrutiny.

"That would work well," Eclipse said after a moment. "Here." He handed Belle's belt to Sera.

Within moments all the bishis were out and split up into groups. Sera was with her three to stay there and wait for people to report back, while all the others fanned out. She sighed and leaned back against a tree.

"I don't like this, that I don't," Kenshin said softly. "There's something about this that is wrong."

"Why would someone kidnap Belle, in the first place?" Kurama asked softly. "And why Belle? There were four trainers, yet this person took Belle. Why her? And why then?"

"Not to mention who did it," Graverobber said. "A bishi would have to be rogue or have orders to do it. And any trainer giving orders like that is just messed up."

"If I knew that I would have already gone after the person and beaten the crap out of him or her myself." Sera sighed and rested her head in her hands, already tired.

"We'll find him," Kenshin said confidently. "I promise you we will."

Sera nodded, too tired to respond properly. Too tired to be fully awake but too wired to sleep. And she certainly wasn't about to ask Kurama to drug her again. She could do without that. She needed to be alert and awake in case someone found her sister.

After all, they were her only hope now.

~*~

Belle sat slumped on the floor of her cell. The room was completely blank, plain off-white walls surrounding her in a room that was roughly ten feet by twelve feet and at least ten feet high. She'd been thrown in the room by the man, rather the demon, who had grabbed her almost two hours ago and had been left alone. She couldn't feel her bishis, her sister, anyone around her. The loss of feeling them was a physical ache, centered around her heart. Belle closed her eyes tightly and pressed the heel of her hand against her chest, trying to relieve some of the pain, at least. But it didn't go away.

Time passed slowly, crawling and inching past her as she struggled to maintain her control, her precious control. As the three hour mark came and went, she'd had enough of being alone in the silence. It was pressing against her, pressing against her eardrums, the silence almost painful in its stillness. Only her own panicked breathing broke the silence. Not even the tiny vent in one upper corner of the room made any sound.

Belle couldn't stand it. Sure, she liked having some time to herself, but she had always known that someone would be there, within hearing range. She'd never in her life been so alone as she was then, and it hurt. She knew that her bishis were close, but she couldn't feel any of them. But from the fact that she wasn't going crazy and she couldn't feel any of them in pain, she knew that they were alright. She was the only one that wasn't.

The door opened and Belle jumped to her feet, trying to slow her breathing. A very attractive man in his early twenties entered the room, shutting the door behind him. Brown hair with blonde highlights was brushed back from his face, falling down past his ears to define the sharp contours of his face. His eyes were bright, unnatural green, almost a metallic shade of green. A dark gray button-up shirt, black slacks, black dress shoes, and a white lab coat covered most of his lightly tanned skin. He turned his gaze to Belle and she froze. Something was simply wrong with that gaze.

"Belle, isn't it?" the man asked, smiling at her. "How nice to finally meet you. I've heard about you, you know. It's really rather surprising, the bond you have with your bishis. Very rare, you know, to have physical pains when you're so alone." Something cold and cruel glinted in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Belle asked, stepping back only to find the wall at her back. There was no way out except the door, and he stood in front of the door.

"My dear girl, do you really think I'll tell you that?" he asked with a pleasant smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I don't think it's really necessary for you to know my name so you can go running off to tell the authorities once you're free."

"Once I'm free?" Belle asked, standing up a little straighter.

"Oh of course," the man said, showing white teeth in his smile. "I'm not keeping you here permanently. I just need a few blood samples, you see, and then you'll be free to go."

Belle eyed him warily, backing herself into a corner. "Why should I trust your word?"

"You shouldn't." The man suddenly grinned, and this time the feral glee did reach his eyes, making his face more alien, more remote. He moved forward swiftly and grabbed Belle's arm, twisting her around with one practiced move and pulling her arm up until she gasped with pain and stopped moving. He extracted a needle from his pocket and stabbed it into the inside of Belle's elbow, ignoring her yelp of pain as he withdrew the blood he needed. Carefully capping the needle and putting it back in his pocket, he released her arm and stepped back. "Thank you for your donation, Miss Belle." With a mocking bow to her, he stepped out of the room. The click of the lock was loud in the ensuing silence.

"Get back here!" Belle yelled, throwing herself at the door. "Let me out! Please! Come back and let me out!!" She screamed in wordless rage and despair and slid to the ground, beating her fists uselessly against the door.

~*~

Sera woke near noon when all of the bishis gathered around her again. She looked up at them and sighed, closing her eyes against sudden tears.

"We will find her," Eclipse said softly, seeming to sense Sera's distress. "She's not more than a mile from here. We will circle this area of the mountain, go farther up and down." He looked at the three thieves and demons, along with the vampire, and nodded to them. Duzell paused before he followed Hiei, Yoko, and Kuronue down the mountain. Nyx had already started up the mountain with Lucifer. Eclipse gently touched Sera's cheek before he followed them, leaving Duo and Raenef with Sera.

"Might as well make some lunch," Sera muttered, rummaging through her own supplies of food. She ate silently, hardly tasting the vegetables and chicken, sharing with her bishies and the other two. Duo left Raenef to play with Kenshin while he comforted Sera and himself by playing with her hair.

A yell from a little further down the mountain nearly an hour drew Sera's attention, and she turned quickly. She found Belle laying against a tree, her back curled arched awkwardly around the trunk. Duo got there before anyone, crouching down and picking up his trainer before looking around.

"How is she?" Sera asked, skidding to a halt next to Duo.

Duzell raised Belle's left arm, which was bruised and had several small spots decorating her elbow, bits of dried blood around each. "Not so good, if the fact that she's unconscious is any indicator."

Nyx appeared next to them, scooping Belle out of Duo's arms and holding her close. "Where was she?" he asked, his voice lethally calm.

"Right here," Sera said, nodding to the tree. "Just laying on the ground, like she'd rolled down into the tree."

Eclipse's eyes narrowed and he buckled the belt around Belle's waist, still carrying her backpack. "We need to get back to town and make sure she's treated."

Sera frowned. "We hardly even know where we are. How will we know where a city is?"

Eclipse glanced over at Nyx. "We have been to several cities in our time with Belle," he said after a moment. "They are not close."

Sera shook her head, frustrated. "That's no good. We need somewhere closer, somewhere that you two won't have to strain so much to get us." She fumbled with her bishidex, getting the map and pointing at the little red dot that was her. "Look, there's a city here and another one here. We can go to one of them."

Eclipse and Nyx exchanged looks again. "It will not be easy," he said softly. He glanced around at the other bishis, who all silently retreated to their balls again. "We should be able to get close." He frowned down at the limp form of his trainer in Nyx's arms before he put one hand on Nyx's shoulder and the other on Sera's. He closed his eyes and they all vanished.

As soon as they appeared on the outskirts of the town, Nyx took off towards it, vanishing so the guard wouldn't see him and heading towards the nearest hospital. He didn't even look back to see if Eclipse was following him.

Eclipse sighed and shook his head, looking over at Sera to offer that she find a place to stay first. Then he paused, looking around. Where was she?

~*~

Sera groaned as she sat up, looking around. She could see a town in front of her, and she started walking towards it. Maybe the others had gone ahead? She really hoped so. She didn't want to be left alone.

With that thought, she let out her three bishis and walked close to Kenshin's side.

"Sera-dono? Where are the others?" Kenshin asked softly, peering down at his trainer as she pulled out her bishidex to see where they were.

"I don't know," Sera said softly. "Eclipse tried to teleport us to this city, but when I got here neither of them were with me." At least she was close to one entrance to the city. She just hoped it was the same one.

"Are you so sure about that?" Kurama asked, edging in closer to Sera's other side.

"Yeah. Why?" Sera looked up and paused as well.

A man stood not far away, smirking as he leaned against a tree. He was holding something, though Sera couldn't see what. He looked up from his hand to meet Sera's eyes, his smirk widening into a grin.

"Hello, Sera." His voice was soft and melodious, reaching across the grass to Sera like velvet.

"How do you know my name?" Sera asked cautiously.

"I know much about you," the man replied, orange/red demon eyes glinting. "I know even more about your sister."

Sera took a few steps forward, slowly closing the gap between them. She ignored Kenshin and Kurama trying to grab her, hold her back. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I know where she was for eight hours," the man purred.

"How do I know that?" Sera took two more steps forward, yanking her arm out of Kenshin's grip, her eyes narrowed.

"I was the one who kidnapped her, dear innocent girl," the man said with a mocking laugh. "Don't believe me, here's some proof." He held up his hand and let cut strands of hair sift through his fingers.

Black and auburn hair.

Belle's hair.

Sera growled, something she hadn't even known she was capable of, and lunged at the demon. He laughed and darted into the trees, grinning. Sera took off after him, ignoring Kenshin, Kurama, and Graverobber yelling and running after her. Red started to obscure the edges of her vision, and she ran faster, determined to hurt the demon who had hurt her sister. She didn't care if she was kicked out for it, or if she had to do it alone, but she would do it.

Kenshin and Kurama could only watch as both the demon and their trainer vanished into the trees, some sort of spell going up to keep them from following. Kenshin swore to himself, his eyes glinting gold, while Kurama paced and tried to figure out how to get through the spell. Graverobber tried to go around, but all three of them could do nothing but wait.