AU: This ended up being a bit longer than I usually write so I hope you all Enjoy! :D

Maribella was quiet most of the rest of the afternoon as she guided the men and women through a few more stores and then just kinda trailed behind the others as they visited more stores. It was obvious to everyone that she was starting to be worn thin. Each stepped seemed to be an effort for her. Eventually though, she sat down on a bench near one end of the mall while the others went on ahead. Yukina needed some convincing that Ari would catch up soon, but eventually walked away with Kuwabara at her side.

Kurama ended up disappearing for a while as Hiei took up a station next to her but not on the bench. They sat there in silence for five minutes, like two statues placed next to each other to contrast with the flowers and pretty white tile around them. It was Hiei who broke the silence.

"Why don't you just go back to the dojo? You are just exhausting yourself."

The woman's smokey eyes turned up to him, the biting retort he expected nowhere to be heard as she nodded her head in agreement. "It would probably be smart to do that. But Shizuru has a couple more shops she wants to see before we go," she pointed out.

Hiei watched the people before him, hiding his surprise at her self-sacrificing attitude. Well… He sighed and pushed himself up straight and turned to her, motioning for her to get up. "How fast can you travel without getting nauseous?" he asked, rolling his shoulders.

"What?" She asked she got up, figuring her rest was going to have to wait. But if he thought she could run, she was going to have to go find Shizuru and beg her to take her home. She didn't think she could take more than a few more steps if she didn't get some more rest.

"Airplane speed, car speed, or walking?" he asked, believing he was clarifying. "Which makes you nauseous, if any."

She stared at him and then shook her head. "None of them." Before she got all the words out of her mouth, she was being lifted up and the mall was disappearing behind them. She screamed in surprise and then buried her face in Hiei's shoulder for a moment until that got too stifling and she peaked up. Her eyes barely focused on anything—a dog, a car, trees. Everything was going by far too quickly. But at the same time, she could focus on Hiei, who's face was way too close to hers at that moment. She realized then that he was running. He didn't teleport, he ran! Amazed, she looped her arms around his shoulders as his arms supported her knees and back quite modestly, no skin touching skin.

It was perhaps three or four minutes later that she was able to focus on more things. There was a sign designating where the entrance to a shop was, oh and there was a family in a park! Then, the lake. Her feet were placed on the ground, one hand still at her back to support her as she stumbled a little, leaning into Hiei's figure as her head swam.

"Whoa," she whispered before her vision went dark as blood rushed to her head. She placed her head down on Hiei's shoulder again.

"Don't vomit. Hell's nuts don't vomit," Hiei's gruff voice vibrated near her ear, disgust obvious there. She couldn't blame him. If she vomited, she'd be just as disgusted as he would be.

"I won't," She promised. "I've just … Gimme a moment." A moment turned into two and then finally she was able to lift her head and offer a smile up at Hiei, his face no more than six inches away from her own. Ari blinked up at him as she realized just how ruby-esque his gaze was. "I've never gone that fast before."

"Few can," Hiei replied as he found himself taking in her grey-blue one, mesmerized as the hand that he'd been using to support her drifted down, hesitating on her hip. Wait, what the fuck was he doing?! He pulled back and looked away. His hand stung, itchy as if it needed to return to where it had been. "Go get some rest. I told Kurama that we were going home. They'll be back in a few more hours."

"Good, good," She said as she wavered again as his support vanished. She tore her gaze from his face and moving over to the little patio area outside her room and sat down. She actually ended up passing out right there as she got off her feet and let the illusion fade. Her cheek was resting against a support beam, hair curling around her face in a haphazard way from the fast travel.

Hiei stared at her from his spot five feet away and moved forward. "Damn you, can you not sleep in a bed?" He asked the sleeping woman before he picked her up again, much to his hands delight, and took her inside the bedroom and set her down on the bed. He stood there watching her for a long few minutes, frowning as his hands flexed at his side.

/

Ari was sitting in a bedroom, no more than six years old, looking up at her mother. "Mama, how do you know who your soulmate is?" she asked, a topic that had always fascinated the happy-go-lucky natured child.

Her mother smiled and closed the human fairy tale book she'd been reading from. They were planning to go to the human world soon. She didn't want Ari to be like her older siblings and cousins who had visited and known nothing about human world cultures. She'd just finished one on a girl named Ella who had been forced to live in cinders and work for her evil stepmother and stepsisters until she found her true love with the prince of the kingdom and got away from the life of being a servant.

"Your soulmate? Well, a touch will tell you right off," she explained before reaching up with her right hand and showed a spiral that began on her palm and wrapped its way down her wrist a few inches. Ari crawled closer to peer at it "This is where your father and I held hands for the first time," she explained. "Your father had lost track of his surroundings once and almost fell off a climb. He was barely hanging on when I came along. He grasped my forearm and I his and together we pulled him up and out of harms way."

"So, I'll get a spiral wherever I touch my soulmate?" Young Maribella asked.

"Not necessarily," her mother warned. "It depends on who your soulmate is, my little Ari. That determines the mark you'll get. Whether it'll be on the inside, here," she tapped above her heart, "Or on your skin. But whatever kind of symbol it is, it'll be powerful, that I promise you. It's always been powerful in our family at least."

"Powerful?"

"Oh yes, my sweet. Very powerful. All sorts of wondrous things can happen when you find your soulmate."

"What if I never touch my soulmate?"

"Oh you will one day. You will.."

/

Ari awoke later that afternoon, her mother's words echoing in her mind just as the thought that she had meant to visit her cousin filtered in as well. Damn, she'd have to do that… She pushed herself up, finding herself in her bed and not on the porch which she had known she'd fallen asleep on. When she saw Hiei dozing there in her place, she frowned, drawing her knees up under the blankets and resting her chin on them as she watched him. The dying sunlight was painting him in a warm golden glow. His face was less determined, more relaxed, gentle almost.

"Are you going to continue to stare at me?" He didn't even open an eye, or twitch as he spoke, face staying serene.

She jumped though, a blush mantling her cheeks as she looked away. "I was just waking up. Thank you… for moving me to the bed," she said as she slid out of it and rose, brushing out slightly crumpled skirts.

"Kuwabara and Kurama are back, and your stuff is in the hallway," he said, eyes finally opening and turning to look at her. "Yusuke was asking how meeting Jin went."

"Yes, I realized that just as I was waking up," she said as she went to the door of her room and began to look through the bags. Good the items that she'd gotten for the four men were still there. She put those aside and began to move other bags around, emptying clothes bag into piles on the floor to be washed later that evening. Other necessities were placed where they needed to go and she picked up the bag of presents, relocating them into her wardrobe before looking at her guard.

"Do you mind taking me to see Jin then, Hiei? It'd be fastest that way, and I do have to ask him a few things," she asked.

"I am not a taxi service," he pointed out in response. "Why should I?" He pushed himself to his feet and came over. "I'm not exactly getting paid for this after all. Why should I waste the energy?"

That took her aback and then she turned those misty eyes and then gave a shrug. "I… I guess you don't have to. I'll get a portal then," She acknowledge and pushed herself over to her bag, rummaging around in it for her phone to call into one of the ogres on teleport duty to get her one. Before she could even find the blasted thing the world was whizzing by again and she smiled. Okay so maybe Hiei wasn't an entire jerk.

Hiei had been about to demand some form of payment for carrying her to see Jin, but the look of surprised disappointment that had crossed her face had done him in. Perhaps that wasn't the only reason, but it was the only one that he was going to acknowledge for the moment.

"Where am I supposed to be going?" Hiei asked as they ran.

"To the shrine on Mount Hell?" she asked with a laugh, the laugh fleeting as it and her words were swept through the air around them.

"Seriously?" he asked, lowering his gaze for a moment to her before turning it to the way they were going.

"No. They have a training house that Jin is staying at in the forest to the north," she grinned and settled in for the ride. It took them almost ten minutes to find the house and come to a stop in their 'front lawn' which was just one end of a clearing. Before them was a two story wooden house with an upstairs balcony looking north.

"Who exactly is they?" Hiei asked suddenly, frowning as two energies started to come closer. Both he'd felt before and knew.

"Jin and a few of his friends," She answered as she wriggled until he let her down. Just as her feet touched the ground she was being swept up into the air again. She let out a joyful laugh as she found herself in the invisible grasp of the wind. She managed a spin in mid air before she waved as she saw the demon responsible. "Cousin!"

"Little Air-bell!" The Irish accent swept around them as Jin came flying in, sweeping her up in his actual arms this time. "Och, lass! Ye've grown so much since the last time I saw ye! What was it, ten years ago?"

"Aye, aye!" she replied, copying his accent as she gave him a big hug—well as strong as she could with her limited strength.

"What are ye doing here? I mean, yer pup came for a visit last night, but he said it might be a day or two before I got to see ye," he asked as he set them both down and then noticed Hiei. "Oh! Hiei! How's Yusuke? Still a right bugger I bet. Why're'ye'ere?" Yeah the more excited he got, the quicker the red headed air demon talked. His blue eyes were filled with good humor though, and his grip on his cousin didn't vanish either as they landed. He could feel how weak she was. He'd not let her fall if he could help it.

"He is the same as always. Arrogant and full of himself," Hiei replied before his eyes flicked to the two others who were coming over as well. "Touya."

The demon had entered at a more sedate manner than his vibrant teammate. "Hiei," he greeted before looking at Jin and his cousin. Ari was leaning against him and just smiling, jabbering on in that Irish accent of theirs like they were brother and sister more than cousins. In fact they seemed to have forgotten about the other two together as they started to head into the cottage.

"I need to steal you away from your training for a little bit Jin, if you don't mind," Maribella was saying as the other three demons followed them.

"Why nah, I won't mind. What do you need of me?" Jin asked with a grin.

"Protection of those around the dojo I'm staying at, and a reader of air, like us," She explained, growing serious as the memory of suffocating as she woke up and in the shower returned. "The fire demon who attacked me and got the better of me… Somehow he's controlling the air."

Jin looked down at her, his baby cousin who he really did care about quite a bit. She was so small, and frail right now it made his heart squeeze in sympathy. She was trying so hard to keep a strong facade. What else was she hiding from the rest of the world in the name sake of pride? "He is controlling the air, ye say? How?"

"I woke up to him suffocating me without actually being there. He was robbing my lungs of air. And there wasn't actually anyone there, but he spoke as well… It had the feel of an air demon to it but at the same time, there was nothing, and he got through a powerful psychics defenses without setting off a single alarm," Ari said, staring ahead of them as they entered home. "I… I don't know how but I think he is an air elemental. That or he has one under his command. It's the only explanation."

"An' how can I help?" Jin asked.

"Come and warn us when air is changing?"Ari asked, finally looking up at her cousin. "Come and protect me? Touya and Gama are welcome as well. It could be a training exercise as well I suppose."

Jin looked forward, seeming to mull it over for a time before smiling down at Ari. "O'course I'll help. It'll be a right bit of fun! And I'll get to hang out with my favorite baby cousin ta boot. Couldn't ask for a better deal."

A sense of relief flooded Maribella as she beamed up at her cousin and hugged him tight. "Oh thank you Jin! Thank you."

"I'll go… If Hiei'll give me a good decent fight after we get there," Touya said with a smirk at the fire demon. "It wasn't fair what the Tournament committee did, keeping you and Genkai from fighting our round. I'd like to see which of us would win."

Hiei snorted and relaxed against the wall. "Gladly," he said with a cocky smirk. "I can't wait."

"Then it's settled!" Jin beamed. "Tomorrow we move in with Team Urameshi!"