"Sahara certainly has been spending a lot of time in her room over the last few days," Kurama sipped from his tea. It was true, she had only emerged twice since she had lost control of her powers. He had to admit, it was a little disturbing to remember just how tired she had looked, "I hope nothing is wrong with her."

Kagami smiled at him, noticing just how worried the kitsune was about her, "You have nothing to worry about, Kurama," Kagami said cheerily, pouring more tea into his cup, "If I know the Princess, she is in that room working non-stop trying to get those powers of hers under control."

"But, she is supposed to be training with us," Kurama interjected, stirring some extra sugar into the bland tea, "That's what we are here for, to help her."

"Kurama, let her do what she needs to." Kagami said again, trying to keep her short temper under control by wringing her hands in her lap, "She will do whatever necessary to make sure those things are under control."

"Still, it makes me worry," Kurama turned his gaze back to the stairs, hoping that Sahara would make her way down them at any minute, "She hasn't eaten in days."

"I'm telling you, she will be fine," Kagami said through her teeth, "Sahara knows her limits, she will come out when she's ready."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, with only the sounds of Kagami's spoon hitting the sides of the glass cup as she stirred in more sugar. She sipped at her tea, her eyes never leaving Kurama, still angry that he wouldn't take her word that Sahara would be fine. She wanted to help Sahara more than anyone, but she couldn't come up with a plan that she knew would take the princess's mind off of what had happened.

Kurama looked over at her for a moment, eyeing her suspiciously, wondering just what was going on in that brain of hers, "Well, what would you say if I was to want to help her?"

"What did you have in mind?" Kagami asked, intrigued by his change in tone of voice. "Come on Kurama, spill it."

"Well," Kurama checked around him and made sure no one was listening before leaning in and whispering the plan in Kagami's ear.

With Sahara

"Damn," she cursed audibly as she allowed the small cloud that she had formed overhead outside dissipate, letting the sun show through once more.

She closed he window dressings tightly so that no light could penetrate and flopped onto her bed, completely drained of any form of energy, her body crying out to her for rest. Never in her entire life had she been so focused on her energy for so long, and it was obvious that she was going to need much more training in that area.

However, on the positive side, she had managed to gain control over some of the smaller spirit moves that she had been taught by the Toki as a child. She flipped over onto her left side, pushing her long raven hair out of her face and concentrated on the room around her, her eyes focused on the clock. She held it there for a brief moment, sweat beginning to gather at her hairline, threatening to trickle down her cheek but the clock never switched over to the next minute. She smiled weakly at her accomplishments and allowed time to move once more as she flipped back onto her back, panting heavily.

"Well, maybe that will make up for what I did the other day," she mumbled to herself, her eyes threatening to close as he body cried out once more for sleep. But this time, there was something else that kept her from the sleep that she so desperately needed, the absolute ravenous hunger that now pained her stomach.

She grasped her abdomen tightly, waiting for the pain to pass, "Well, no sleep for now I guess," she said out loud to herself as she made her way to the hall bathroom, gathering her dark green bathrobe and other bath necessities as she went.

Back Downstairs

"Ok, so is everyone down with the plan?" Botan asked from the center of the circle. Everyone, who had been sitting discussing Kurama and Kagami's brilliant scheme all nodded their approval. All those except Hiei, who sat in the furthest corner of the room away from the entire group.

"But, why do I have to tell her?" Yukina asked from beside Kuwbara, her small hands clinched into tight balls as if she was nervous of the job that the team had given her.

"Well," Kagami said, draping her left arm over Yukina's shoulder making the ice apparition tense at the sudden touch, "From what I've seen in the short time I've been here, no one can say no to that cute little face." Kagami grinned widely and pinched Yukina's cheek, making a blush illuminate Yukina's normally pale skin.

"Yeah, Yukina," Botan said with a grin, "No one says no to you, besides, I think you are one of the few people in the house that Sahara actually trusts right now."

"Wait a minute you guys," Keiko interrupted the thoughts for a moment, "If we are going to go to this festival, shouldn't we have dates?" she asked, obviously getting some rather interesting glances from the male population in the room.

"Hey that's right!" Botan stopped Keiko before she could even continue her thought, "It's bad luck to go to the Spring Festival without dates!"

It was then that Yusuke began to slide out of the circle, trying his best to get away without being seen. He had always hated going to festivals of any kind, and this one would be no different. He had just made it to the door frame when a surprisingly strong grip halted his movement and dragged him back to the circle.

"Going somewhere, Yusuke?" Keiko's normally kind voice had suddenly become cold, as he chocolate brown eyes bore deeply into his.

"Well, you see, Keiko," Yusuke stuttered, desperately searching for any excuse to get him out of the lecture he was about to receive, "I was just going to make sure that my festival kimono was clean."

"Nice recovery man," Kuwabara whispered from beside him with a chuckle, earning a quick punch in the gut from the irritated detective.

"Well, it's obvious that Keiko has a date, and I'm sure that Kuwabara will be taking Yukina," Botan started, trying to figure out just who was going to go with who so that no one would be left out of the little excursion.

"You know it!" Kuwabara said loudly as he wrapped his arm protectively around Yukina, causing her to blush once more.

"Well, I'll go with Koenma so that we have enough guys for all of the girls," Botan stuttered out quickly, her cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink which earned a giggle from the girls.

"Sure that's why she's going with him," Kagami whispered to Keiko, before receiving a slap to the back of the head, causing her to fall forward into Kurama's lap making her blush a shade of bright red as she struggled back to her seat.

"So, I guess Hiei you can take Kagami, and Kurama you can take Sahara." Botan said with a smile, earning a glare from both Kagami and Hiei.

"Why do you think I want to go with him?" Kagami's voice quivered with anger as she tried her best to restrain the urge to strangle the blue hair reaper on the spot.

"Well, I should think you would volunteer for this position," Botan smirked evilly, obviously getting her revenge for Kagami's earlier statement, "You know that Sahara is not exactly comfortable being around Hiei at the moment, so I thought that her best friend would want to help her out."

'Damn,' Kagami cursed in her own head. She had realized that Botan was smart, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined the ditzy reaper to be so conniving. She stuck out her bottom lip, accepting her defeat, and made her way back to her spot between Yukina and Keiko.

"What makes you think that I will go?" Hiei spoke quietly from his corner, his gaze focused on Kuwabara's arm that was still draped over Yukina's shoulders.

"You have to go, Hiei," Kurama said, turning his gaze to the obviously furious fire demon, "We are still under contract with Koenma and it was a direct order, am I right Kagami?"

"Yeah!" Kagami nodded enthusiastically, "Koenma thought that it would be good to get Sahara out and doing things to keep her mind off everything that has happened over the last week." She grinned at Hiei, making him even more irritable, "So he made it an official order. We are to leave at seven!"

"Well, it's already five thirty! So you better get going Yukina!" Botan said as she pulled the ice maiden up and pushed her up the stairs.

With Sahara

"There is nothing in the world better than a good hot bath!" Sahara exclaimed to herself, obviously feeling much better now that she had rejuvenated herself in the bath. She pulled herself from the large marble tub and slipped into her green robe, cinching it tightly around her waist. She then wrapped her wet hair in a matching green towel and placed it atop her head, turban style.

Sahara glance at the mirror, that had become steamed up from the heat that had come off her bath water. She extended one finger and doodled the image of a large smiley face on it, instantly making a smile appear on hers. After she cleaned the mess off the mirror, she began to apply a little foundation to her pale skin, hoping to cover the dark circles that had formed under her eyes.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door, shocking Sahara a bit. "It's open," she replied to the knock before turning back and finishing applying her base.

"Hello Sahara," Yukina's soft voice flowed into the bathroom, as she made her way over to the toilet and took a seat, "It's nice to see you are out of your room."

"Thank you, Yukina," Sahara flashed a small grin towards the aqua haired ice apparition, "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well," Yukina paused for a moment, trying to make sure that she got all of the information right, "I was wondering, if you would like to accompany me and the rest of the gang to the Spring Festival."

"No thanks, Yukina," Sahara said flatly, turning her gaze to the mirror to apply some eyeliner. "I'm sure you heard what happened the last time the guys and I were together, I don't want to do that again."

"Oh please, Sahara!" Yukina said a little louder this time, motioning for Sahara to sit down in front of her, "It will be a lot of fun for all of us to go together!"

"Yeah, but," Sahara stopped for a moment, enjoying the feeling of Yukina running her fingers through her wet hair.

"No buts, Sahara," Yukina giggled as she began to pull up the long raven locks, "Besides, Kurama is really looking forwards to taking you."

"Kurama?" Sahara's eyes went wide for a moment. She had never guessed they would stick her with Kurama and she knew that it meant Kagami would be a little miffed. "But why am I going with Kurama?"

"That's how Botan set it up," Yukina began placing small sakura blossoms into Sahara's hair, "She said something about not wanting you to be uncomfortable around Hiei, so she sent you with Kurama and Kagami with Hiei."

"Well then, I'll just have to go." Sahara said standing, gazing into the mirror at the job that Yukina had done on her hair.

Never before had she seen her hair arranged this way, two small pigtails on each side, holding up just a few strands of hair and both decorated with two sakura blossoms each. For something so simple, never had she seen anything as elegant, and it was all done in the span of two minutes. Sahara grinned at herself, putting on a little extra make-up since they were going out.

"Why? What made you changed your mind?" Yukina joined her at the mirror, helping her apply a light brown eye shadow to her lids.

"I've got to see how those two will handle each other," Sahara said with a light giggle causing Yukina to cock her head to the side, confused at what was so funny to the princess. "I want to see how long it takes before Hiei bites Kagami's head off. In case you haven't noticed, Yukina, Hiei doesn't like Kagami all that much."

"You know what, you're right!" Yukina cheered as the two girls made their way to Sahara's room, Yukina instantly going into the well stocked closet, "Hiei will probably just slip away from her and go sit in one of his trees."

The two of them shared a giggle as Yukina delved through the endless supply of clothes that had been provided for Sahara. Sahara marveled as pile after pile of clothes appeared on her floor, she began to realize just how badly Koenma had been trying to apologize to her.

Before she could even complete that thought, Yukina gave a very soft, barely audible gasp as she held up a cross between a kimono and a dress. Sahara took the dress from the ice apparition hands and held it up to her body, checking herself in the mirror. The dress, was a deep blood red reaching the floor with a long slit in the side that went just up to Sahara's mid-thigh. Sahara found upon closer inspection of the dress that it was lined with a very elaborate gold pattern that spanned the dress.

She turned and grinned at the still stunned apparition, "It's perfect, Yukina."

Meanwhile

"Honestly, what is taking those girls so long?" Botan asked impatiently, tapping her foot while simultaneously glancing at the clock for the fiftieth time in the past ten minutes, "Don't they realize that we are going to be late!"

"Really, Yusuke," Keiko fussed as she pulled Yusuke's head down to her level, "Couldn't you have done something a little different to your hair?" She asked as she pushed some of the thickly gelled hair to the side.

"Why should I?" Yusuke jerked back, fixing his hair back to it's original state, "Hiei didn't even have to change his clothes, Keiko, that's not fair!" The detective pouted much like an overgrown child, earning a chuckle from Hiei.

"I, unlike you detective, am not a slave to a woman," Hiei spat, causing Yusuke to glare in his direction.

"Oh really? Because I seem to remember a certain red-headed demoness who would…" Yusuke stopped abruptly, feeling to cold blade of Hiei's katana pressing against his neck.

"You should stop there detective, if you value your life." Hiei said coolly, as if he was not moments away from killing one of his partners.

However, they were interrupted by the sounds of feet coming down the staircase. Everyone's eyes instantly fell on the now extremely made up Sahara, who was making her way slowly down the stairs behind Yukina. Kurama's face instantly lit up with a bright blush as he watched her come expertly down the stairs, gracefully, as if she was coming into some sort of grand ball.

"Well, what's everyone staring at?' Sahara spoke first, causing everyone to tear their eyes from her, embarrassed that they had indeed been staring, "Let's go see what this festival is all about!"