"Absolutely not!"

"Are you insane?"

"Ria, no."

"Are you even more stupid than the dimwit?"

They spoke at once, their objection to my condition overlapping as they yelled their disbelief. No, I wasn't going crazy. I had questions and Clayton had answers; I needed the closure.

"That's my condition, Koenma. I'll help in whatever way I can to clear up this mess… but you have to provide Clayton." I sat back with my arms folded, my chin lifted in defiance. Where had this sudden bout of confidence come from? Though I wasn't exactly complaining about it, the sureness of my words was a bit out of the ordinary for me. Yes, I wanted to speak – no, interrogate – Clayton. I was a stickler for closure. There was no way in hell I was just going to let him disappear into Spirit World's clutches without understanding his motives to torture me. But had I been my old self – my old human self, I would have never demanded my time with him. Passive inquiries would have suited me so much better.

My confusion at my confidence thankfully allowed me more time to continue my stare down with Koenma, who finally conceded with a heavy sigh and a motion to Botan, whom I had completely forgotten was in the room. Yukina had also joined us, but from the way she clenched her fist close to her mouth I could tell she'd heard my demand.

"Give me a few days, Rihama –" "Ria." "– and I will see if we can't make this happen." Although Koenma still maintained his regal composure, I could hear the weight of his voice. He was tired and arguing with me was beyond what he was willing to waste energy on.

I nodded, allowing him the time. Genkai was shaking her head at me, a pipe clutched between her teeth. It hadn't been lit yet, but she chewed on it all the same. There was heavy silence that fell over our small group and I took the chance to allow my gaze to drift over to both Yusuke and Kurama.

Unfortunately, both of them were frowning at me. Heat flushed over my chest and face, and I turned sheepishly back to stare at my lap. "Thank you, Koenma… if you'll excuse me." Pushing myself to my feet, I rushed from the room and ignored Kurama and Yukina's calls.

My steps led me to the center garden of the temple where Yukina and I had had tea previously. I sat down heavily and let my legs hang over the sides. Pulling the braid out of my hair, I ran my fingers through it and took in one deep breath after the other to settle the nerves I'd had built up.

I should have felt guilt or embarrassment – I expected those. Genkai and Kurama thought I was stupid for asking to see Clayton. Hell! Even Yusuke thought it wasn't a good idea! But… instead I felt adrenaline and confidence. I'd gotten my way… I'd made what had seemed like a senseless demand and Koenma had agreed.

A small smile broke through my lips as I laughed to myself.

"People will think you're crazy, laughing like that." Yusuke had followed me out to the porch. Plopping next to me, he leaned back on his hands and grinned. I smirked back at him before turning forward. A few moments of silence passed between us before Yusuke spoke again. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I snorted. "What – confront the man who pretended to be my friend, drugged me, kidnapped me, and tortured me for several days? Yeah. Yeah, I do."

He frowned, then nodded as he turned back forward. "Fair enough. Koenma's working on it. You'll get your time with him."

I nodded again, smiled, and allowed my body to fall back on the deck. Breathing a sigh of relief, I closed my eyes.

Humanity has made you stupid. Rihama was speaking to me again. I'd opened my eyes and found myself on her back, between the wings pulled in tight as we walked through the trees. I didn't recognize the terrain, but I knew it wasn't near the temple. I felt a twinge of agitation she'd interrupted my gloating. Asking to see the man who kidnapped and tortured you… Just leave it! He is not important!

"It is to me!" I smacked a hand onto the scales between my legs, but winced and shook my hand out as I realized I'd just smacked a hard dragon scale. I could feel the low rumble of her chuckle beneath my body. "I have questions and they need to be answered!"

Who cares?! You are stronger now! Our soul is bonding again, the seals have been cracked!

My body slid from her back as I jumped off. I was glad this was a dream, or vision or something, because the drop would have probably hurt if it had been physical – her shoulder stood at least twenty feet from the ground. She stopped her slow trek to curve her long neck back to face me. I had my hands on my hips as I glared at her.

"Yeah, about these seals – care to share with the rest of the class? You forget I don't have all of our memories yet. I don't know what you're talking about."

Rihama tilted her head as she observed me, as if she had just realized what I'd said was true. Did she really not consider I might not think like her?

The seals – the ones King Enma placed on us. You do not remember? I stared at her for a long moment before cocking an eyebrow. She snorted in frustration. How convenient.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her expectantly. Narrowing her own golden eyes, she snorted and shook her head in frustration.

King Enma placed seals on our energy, our memories, and the remainder of our abilities. It required the splitting of our soul and took a very long time… but Enma did it. There were fail safes, like the one that healed your body after you were injured. That cracked the seal, but when you were in such danger in the warehouse with those other demons, you widened it and it broke. It is like a dam – a small crack is nothing until a great force is pressed on it. You release more every day training with the kitsune. You can fix us.

I frowned and crossed my arms. "See, you could have told me this sooner!"

I assumed you knew.

"How about from now on you just assume I know nothing?"

I could feel the vibrations of her chuckle in the ground beneath me. Easy enough. Only if you will stop being so nice to the little prince.

"Koenma? I'm just being civil with him."

He is not worthy of our time. Use him only as long as necessary, then rid yourself of him. He has never been kind to the Great Dragons. You will understand when our soul is mended.

"You look really tired, Ria." Yusuke was frowning at me. He'd woken me up when Kurama had come to find us. Since Koenma was talking to Genkai, Kurama had decided some more training for me couldn't hurt. I rolled my eyes in Yusuke's direction before stretching my hand out towards him, fingers pressed tightly together and palm facing the ground. Kurama had suggested I attempt to focus my energy into a single point of my body and allow it to flow through instead of wildly lashing out from various appendages; my hands were the obvious selection.

Narrowing my eyes, I breathed in deeply through my nostrils and willed the energy to condense around me. It was wearisome, as it took nearly all of my concentration to even pull enough of my energy into a single location of my body. I'd already broken a sweat earlier, as I was on nearly my tenth round. We'd discovered I needed a catalyst to even want to focus my energy at, as the tree Kurama had originally pointed me to had bored me fairly quickly. Instead, Yusuke had begun to taunt me and it had quite suddenly become easier to focus my energy into an attack.

"That's because I am tired, Yusuke." It had been exhausting to wake up from my conversation with Rihama; she drained me. Baring my teeth, I spread my fingers and pushed the energy I'd collected in my hand out with a snarl. It launched towards Yusuke in a streak of crackling light, and he dodged to the side to get out of its way. It struck a tree behind him and immediately burned a soccer ball sized crater into the trunk. The wood smoldered a bit and I smirked at my progress. I just had to get faster now…

"Aw, did someone not get her beauty sleep? I can tell." My eyes flashed towards him and I pulled my hand up again, palm outstretched as another blast of energy was sent his way. I panted at the exertion of releasing another blast so close to the previous and my muscles ached from the strain of pulling my energy to my hand so fast. Yusuke dodged again, this time the ball of energy hitting a large rock behind him.

"Better." Kurama called out to me from his position several yards away. "Do it again."

I ground my teeth and followed through – I pulled more energy into my opposite hand, hoping to give my muscles something new to follow. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flash of white robes as Koenma and Genkai stepped out onto the back porch to watch my progress. An unwarranted surge of rage bubbled in my chest and I bared my teeth in a snarl as I threw my shoulder and fist forward in another attack.

This one was too fast, too large – too much for Yusuke to dodge as he had been. As he flung himself out of the way, the ball of crackling energy caught the edge of his torso along his ribs before blasting the rocks behind him into dust. The destruction of the rock was loud as a bomb, but I was still able to hear Yusuke's cry of pain as he fell to the ground and clutched at his ribs.

My hands pulled back to cover my mouth in shock. Kurama shot forward to Yusuke's side. I was vaguely aware of Botan's exclamation from their spot on the porch and Genkai telling her to stay put. Returning to my senses, I rushed over to Yusuke. He was sitting up, thankfully. As I approached, I realized his shoulders were shaking – not from pain, but from laughter. I stopped just short of his position, looking down at him in confusion. Kurama was shaking his head.

Wincing, Yusuke shot me a bright smile. "Now that was a good one! You really got me there, Ria!"

My jaw dropped as I looked him over. The white t-shirt he'd been wearing was torn and was soaked quickly with blood. He pulled his hand back so Kurama could check the damage, only to shake his head quickly. "Flesh wound – it's only bleeding because she hit the thin skin surrounding your ribs. At least your dodges have gotten better, or that could have been a much bigger mess to clean up."

Yusuke grinned up at me before offering his bloodied hand to Kurama. The kitsune shook his head before grabbing under Yusuke's bicep and hauling him to his feet with ease.

"You're still too slow to dodge an attack from an amateur?! Get your ass back to training, dimwit!" Genkai was yelling across the yard at him and Yusuke grumbled some choice words at the older woman under his breath.

I smiled briefly at the Mazoku before shaking my head. Kurama led Yusuke back to the temple so he could bandage the wound, making comments of how it would be healed within a day or so. I trudged along behind them and made the mistake of glancing up at Koenma. His eyes were narrowed as he scrutinized me, a deep frown set in his features. Genkai noticed my own frown and turned spoke under her breath to Koenma, but my ears caught every word.

"Not all Great Dragons are the same, Koenma, so stow the pessimism."

I was laying on my futon later that night attempting to process the day's events. Koenma had left and we'd taken the afternoon to relax. Although I knew I was more of a guest than a prisoner now, I still had no desire to go off exploring the grounds. Instead, I took the alone time to reflect on what Rihama had told me of the seals, Genkai's comment to Koenma, and what exactly I would say to Clayton when I saw him.

Mumbling to myself, I asking a figurative Clayton how he's doing, how's his new life, and asking if he knew how much he'd changed mine. I grumbled a bit, because even though he'd ruined my human life, he'd actually reminded me of my previous. Bastard. And then I'd found Kurama again… Because of Clayton, I'd met Raizen's heir and the King of Thieves, not to mention the fire demon, Genkai, and Yukina.

Dammit.

I'd snagged a chopstick from the kitchen earlier and twirled it between my fingers absently. It allowed my mind to stop focusing on what could or could not happen in the next few days and the repercussion of my demand. I sighed to myself, attempting to gather the will to turn off the lights and actually sleep.

My door snapped open with a clack and I jumped at the sound, my arms and legs thrashing in shock. I settled back on my forearms, and glared at Hiei as he stared me down with a snarl.

"Are you a complete idiot?" Hiei seethed through bared teeth, his eyes flashing as he stepped into the small bedroom. I blinked slowly at him before rolling my eyes and flopping back on the futon.

"Hey Hiei, how was your trip? How was my day? Oh, just peachy. Koenma found my contract and they're doing an investigation, but I made a demand and he's going to follow through. I made Yusuke bleed earlier. Have you eaten yet?"

A growl low in his chest escaped through his bared fangs, but I looked at him with a bored expression. He'd missed out on the excitement of the day because he'd abruptly left without so much of a goodbye.

He shut the door behind him and stalked over to the side of my futon, staring down at me threateningly. The scared human inside of me wilted from his expression, but I could feel the courage I'd gained from speaking to Koenma and Rihama in the same day still coursing through me. What was he going to do – kill me?

When he reached down to haul me up by the fabric of the front of my loose sleeping shirt, I found it could be a very real possibility. Thankfully, we were similar height so he could only bring me to my feet for the threatening act to still have effect. Had he tried to raise me any higher, I might have giggled.

I was in a terrible frame of mind, it seemed.

Hiei seemed to notice I wasn't exactly taking him as serious as he liked, so he yanked me close enough so I could feel the heat radiating off his body. His hot breath fanned out over my face as he growled. "Leave the Maneshi demon be – do you think you'll gain anything from this ridiculous demand to see it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him as I brought my hands up to grip at his wrist and forearm, motioning for him to let go. He allowed me to fully support my weight back on my feet, but he did not let go of the bunched fabric. I frowned at him – the shirt wasn't long enough for this treatment. I could feel the different temperatures of the room on my midriff. Between the heat coming from him and the cool air to the back of me, I could feel the gooseflesh raising on my skin.

"You weren't here to argue, so Koenma agreed. And what the fuck is a 'Maneshi'?" Hiei growled at my question, and I reached out to shove against his chest, hoping he would take the hint to back off. Of course, he did not.

Pursing my lips, I wrinkled my nose at the fire demon. He scoffed before releasing my shirt and shoving me back. I stumbled and fell back on the futon, glaring back up at him. "Maneshi – copycats. They steal other demon's abilities since they cannot wield their own."

My eyebrows raised at this new information. Was he calling Clayton a Maneshi? "Is that why you went to Demon World, to find out about them?"

Hiei scoffed and crossed his arms while looking smugly down at me. "No, everyone knows of Maneshi." I wrinkled my nose again – jerk. "I went back to inform… someone I would be gone for some time, depending on your ability to destroy the human world."

"Hey!" I pushed myself back up from the futon, moving up in Hiei's face although the man didn't even flinch at my movement. I shoved a finger on his (unfortunately… or fortunately) muscled chest and internally winced at the harsh contact. "Let's get something straight, red eyes – I'm not here to destroy the world. I don't want to and I doubt I'm even capable. So knock it off with the stereotypical comments."

"Hn. You probably aren't capable."

My head fell back in exasperation and I groaned before stepping around him. "Are you even capable of opening your mouth and not insulting me?" I made to show him the door, but as I moved, my foot caught the edge of his boot and I stumbled, the floor coming up quickly to meet me. Hiei's hot hand caught me and yanked me back to a standing position. As soon as I felt I had my balance back, I yanked myself from his grip and glared at him. "Go away."

His scowl deepened as he turned to face me again. I rubbed the spot he'd grabbed with the palm of my hand – he'd grabbed hard. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Lots of things!" I seethed out at him, throwing my hands up. "You weren't around for the discussion, so you don't get a part in the decision! Plus without you around, all this sass has been pent up and it's making me cranky!"

Hiei's brow furrowed as he tilted his head. I'd confused him. It was true, though. In the past few days, I'd really had nothing but sarcastic banter with the fire demon, and I hadn't noticed the amount of sass and sarcasm that had been flowing through me as of late. When there was no one around I felt comfortable unleashing my sass on, it built up like the pressure in a pop bottle. "Sass?"

"Yes, this new found sense of sarcasm and wit. Rihama's influence, probably." As Hiei's head tilted the opposite direction, I sighed and crossed my arms. "Right, uh… I saw Rihama again in a dream or vision – whatever. She thinks I'm stupid, too, if it's any consolation."

Hiei's shoulders loosened and I watched as he relaxed in my presence finally. I hadn't even realized he'd been so tense. "What did she say?"

"That Clayton wasn't important, but I want… I need to know." Shrugging, I decided I gave up on attempting to get Hiei to leave my room. I hadn't even told Kurama about my visit with Rihama –it was eating away at me. I sidled back to the futon and sat down again. Hiei's legs folded underneath him as he sat down on the floor across from me, moving his sword from the place at his side to holding in his hands. "She explained what seals had been placed on me."

"The one's hindering your powers and memories." Hiei's voice was sure – no questioning. I nodded in response. "Tell me."

I explained as best I could – the different seals placed on me, how I'd cracked them, and now how we were continuing to break them. When I'd completed my explanation, Hiei folded his arms and grew silent as he contemplated the new information. I'd contemplated plenty on my own, so I allowed him the time to think.

Unfortunately, it also gave me a moment to reflect on what exactly the seals were and what they meant. If I was gaining more memories from the crack in the seals, not to mention the changing of my appearance and the small differences in my personality, what would happen once the seals were completely removed?

Would I be a different person? Would I notice? Would I care?

"Hiei?" He finally looks up from his musing to meet my own gaze, though his brow furrows at my own worried expression. "Do you know a way I can break the seals? I'd rather just get it done and over with… This waiting game sucks."

He took a moment, blinked once, and shrugged a shoulder. "I haven't seen them, so I don't' know."

I rolled my eyes at his deflection. "So can you look then? Is that a thing?"

Hiei smirked, and reached up behind his head. When the white strip of cloth grew slack and fell from his forehead, I stared blatantly at the new expanse of skin I'd yet to see on the man. Although the majority of it was no different from the rest of his face, there was a thin, horizontal line in the center of his forehead.

I flinched as the line split and I came face to face with a large, violet eye.

"This is the Jagan."

I tried – and I mean I really tried to look at the purple iris of Hiei's third eye. But the longer I stared, the more blurry my vision became. It was like an optical illusion for me . While the entirety of my vision remained clear, including Hiei's face, the area where his Jagan was grew more and more unclear with every passing second. I had to rub my eyes several times and even shook my head to hopefully get rid of the effect. Nothing helped.

"I can't see it!" I grew too frustrated and instead focused on the red hue of Hiei's normal eyes. "It's just blurry every time I look at it!"

Crimson narrowed at me and he growled low in his throat. "Another problem for another time. Clear your mind."

I shook my head quickly. "Why? What is that?"

"It will let me see your seals. Now clear your mind." He wasn't asking nicely anymore, instead giving me a short command. I wrinkled my nose at him, but complied and attempted to focus on a state of meditation Kurama had attempted to teach me. If Hiei was willing to help, I was going to let him.

It only took a good 10 seconds for Hiei to emit a snarl. "I cannot see them! They are protected!" My eyes snapped open to frown at him.

"Well don't get so mad at me!" He was baring his teeth, the purple eye on his forehead glowing brightly. From the light emitted from it, my vision began to swim and I cried out from the disorientation, screwing my eyes shut. "Turn that thing off!"

"There is no 'off,' you idiot." I could nearly feel the dizzying sensation fade as Hiei closed the Jagan. Slowly cracking my eyes open, I rubbed at my head.

"I can't look at your eye thing and you can't look at my seals. Just great." I was grumbling under my breath as I fell to the side and curled my knees up to my chest. Confusion ate at my mind as I realized Hiei wouldn't be able to help. More so, I realized I didn't especially want his help – I just wanted a guideline of how to take care of it myself. Trusting someone to help me had gotten me in this mess, both King Enma and Clayton at the forefront of my mind. Maybe it was time to just stop expecting anyone of the ability to help me.

A heavy silence fell over the two of us, and I could feel Hiei's tension filling the room. He was frustrated, as was I. If we didn't dispel the tension, one of us would crack and a fight would ensue. Although part of my mind reveled in the possibility of conflict, the majority of my brain knew it was a very bad idea to pick a fight with this particular demon.

"Say something." My voice was muffled by the futon. I'd buried my face in it. Hiei was still for a moment, and I thought he may not answer me.

"Tell me of Rihama." I turned my face towards him, but made no effort to raise myself up. I did, however, reach up to snag the pillow I'd been using and pressed it under my head.

"Why?"

"I have never met a Great Dragon before. Tell me of her."

I snorted and shifted to make myself more comfortable on the futon. Glancing over at Hiei, I found he was still stiffly sitting cross legged on the floor. "You can sit on the end of the bed if it's more comfortable." I offered him more room as I shifted towards the head of the futon. Hiei made no move, although he looked at me with a curious expression. "You know Rihama is me, right?"

He was suddenly sitting in the same position at the end of the futon. Freaky fast reflexes, that man. I flinched from his sudden movement, but he ignored it. Instead, he raised and eyebrow and stared pointedly in my direction, waiting for me to begin.

Huffing through my nose, I attempted to wrack my brain for an explanation of the Great Dragon that was Rihama… that was me. "Rihama is… confident. More so arrogant, I guess. Every time I see her, she looks like a dragon – all white scales and gold horns and claws. But she is terrifyingly beautiful…"

Hiei snorted. "Conceited."

I reached out my foot and kicked his leg quickly, to which he grabbed my ankle for a quick moment and squeezed a warning before releasing it. I regretted using shorts to sleep in as it left my ankle unprotected and more than likely subject to a bruise. Sticking my tongue out at Hiei, I drew my leg back to my body before letting out a short chuckle. "She kind of is, though."

The corner of his mouth turned up and disappeared so quickly I almost missed it. But he was amused, so I continued giving him what little information on the Great Dragon I had once been.

A/N: Let's just go ahead and assume I'm gonna be late all the time. I don't mean to, but life happens… and shit kind of went down this week in both my personal and work lives so… Not apologizing.

Special thanks to pourquoibella, Melody-Ravenwood, lilnightmare17, and MissLini for reviewing last chapter! Big squishy hugs to you!

And just thanks to everyone who's still reading this. I know I don't update much and when I do, it's usually late, but I do love this story and the characters I'm writing about. It's a lot of fun and it's a great creative outlet for me.

Okay, anyway – don't forget to review, favorite, and follow! See you next month!