The world was too bright. There were voices too. They were worry filled voices, confused ones. One male voice was asking what the hell was going on; another calmly, but with worry still present, was saying it might have just been a mass energy drain from the tornado. Another was threatening someone with 'if you hurt her, I'll beat you to a pulp!'. That was a voice she knew and was happy to hear. He was a friend, someone who cared and could take care of her if she was unable to.

"Out of the way, out of the way!" A female's voice. "What happened to her hands?!" She knew that voice. Botan.

Why, why was it that every time she woke up there was Botan? She was really getting tired of it. Why couldn't there be someone more quiet there at her bedside to wake her up? That wouldn't scream just because she was twitching or her eyes were fluttering open.

Maribella didn't really move at first as she took stock of her body. There weren't any wounds; not like when she first woke up. She was still as weak as before, so it wasn't that she'd been drained of all her energy. There was a strange energy thrumming in her wrists though. It pulsed and hummed, purred and snarled all at the same time. She'd never felt such energy there before.

What are you? she asked the energy, stroking it with a magical finger. It seemed to hum louder, vibrate quicker, enjoying the stroke.

I am your other half.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat straight up, eyes meeting only one other pair who stood across from the couch she was laying on. Eyes the color of ruby's; that were glaring hatred at her as if she were the reincarnation of some long thought dead foe. She recoiled, though she could not tear her gaze away.

"Were you attacked Maribella? What's going on? Are you okay?" Botan pelted her with questions, but Maribella didn't want questions. She wanted answers, but dreaded them at the same time. She pushed herself up from the couch, backing away from Hiei without ever breaking eye contact.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shaking her head. She'd never meant—She wouldn't have—

She turn and ran. She ran until she was in her wing, the doors locked and barred from anyone's entrance. Even Hiei would have to stop and pick a lock before being able to get at her and that would be enough time to run for her. She sat on the bed in her room, face in hands.

What had she done? Her, Hiei, soulmates?! The energy in her wrists still hummed, would hum until one of them was dead; perhaps even after if one of them remained alive, a constant reminder of what they had lost.

She avoided people for three days. She missed Jin's excited joining of their household. She ate at odd hours to miss the communal meals. She avoided contact on her phone from everyone but Kuwabara and those humans she knew online. Nothing tried to attack her during this time.

Every evening she'd fall asleep agains the glass wall, looking out over the lake, aware that Hiei was hiding out int he trees somewhere, watching her. Or at least, that's what she assumed the stronger thrumming in her wrists meant. If a part of herself warned her that she was running away, or being a coward, she ignored it the best she could. She would not be guilt tripped by her own subconscious need for a soulmate.

It wasn't an unpleasant feeling. When Hiei was close it was like a cat purring loudly against ones skin as you gave it a belly rub, lessening to a soft pulse which matched her own when Hiei was farther away. It was always there, always a reminder of what had happened, of what she'd brought onto both of them by trying to strangle him. Who would have guessed?

After three days though, she was getting tired of her room, but still wanted to avoid everyone. All of this was still too new, too much at once for a demon who was renewing her powers. So she opened the sliding glass wall and stepped out into the late afternoon sun. Hiei, if her pulsing wrists could be trusted, was far off somewhere, so she felt safe to step out without encountering him.

As her bare feet touched the ground, she noticed something that got her heartbeat running. The sun was casting not one but two shadows of her. Only one… One wasn't hers. "Who are you?" She asked, ready to sprint away if need be.

"Do not be afraid." The voice was feminine, soft. "I am here with Touya and Jin. I will not harm you."

"Where are you? Who are you?" Maribella asked again. She would not be dissuaded from this. She was not going to just accept she suddenly had another shadow. There was a long silence though in which she started to take a step closer to the sun.

Slowly the shadow on the ground moved away. About five feet away, a form began to shimmer into appearance. Long raven black hair swirled around an etherial body. Skin that was literally white as new snow formed, and a pair of icy grey eyes blinked open. Lips that were painted to be as black as her hair were in a soft smile but it seemed more to harden her features than soften them. Her dress was made of ice crystals overlapping in a beautiful design before trailing down to a collection of shadows around her feet and grey-black whispy sleeves finished it. All in all, she looked far more like a grim reaper than Botan did. But all of this was softened even more by the fact that one could see straight through her at the trees behind her.

"My name is Lerra. I am a friend of Touya's. He told me of the issues here and I thought perhaps I could offer my services to you. Since I am without a body but still in possessions of some of my abilities, I can offer a silent, invisible protective force for you that is not a fire demon," she explained with a slow, far too graceful of a bow. Her black hair swirled and floated around her rather than fall forward, reinforcing the information hat she was not within a real earthly body at the moment.

"Does Koenma know of you? If you are dead you should be going on to whatever is in the afterlife," Maribella pointed out.

"Koenma has quite a bit of paperwork that he has to get through before he comes to my little, insignificant death," the woman said with a cold laugh. "And I don't intend on being taken from this world until I get my revenge. I have things unfinished and for that I need a body. Until I find a suitable host however that has given their life willingly, I'm going to stick around without one."

"Insignificant? No one's death is insignificant," Ari said with a shake of her head.

"No?"

"No. Surely you have family that mourns? Loved ones? Friends."

"That is quite humanistic for a demon to say," the ghost said with a raise of an eyebrows. "Especially one that is currently hiding from everyone around them because they could not cope with the fact their soulmate happened to be a certain kind of demon. Do you know how many would love to find their soulmate and yet you pull away from it?"

Maribella swallowed and looked away from her. A finger went to her right wrist and trailed the line there. It was humming more now. Hiei was on his way here. "Hiei does not want a soulmate just as much as I wish for one," she pointed out. She'd known that the moment their eyes had met after she'd awoken from passing out.

"Is that right? You haven't spoken to him since it occurred," Lerra pointed out. "Has he told you that himself, or are you just projecting?"

The humming was almost a throbbing now. Hiei was closing in. Her throat closed at the idea of confronting him…

Lerra watched the woman before taking a few steps close to meet her gaze. "If you pull away now when you have found your soulmate… You'll end up an old demon like me. It isn't a good existence," she warned before disappearing as Hiei appeared on the edge of the lake before Maribella.

Red, emotionless eyes met stormy grey ones where a millions thoughts played out. Neither blinked, but it was Hiei who moved forward first. He moved up the gentle incline until he stood in front of hers. He wasn't wearing the cloak, his soul mate tattoo plainly on display for anyone looking. With him so close, Maribella could feel her skin practically rippling with sensation.

"Are you going to run away?" Hiei asked. His eyes dipped down as her tongue darted out to lick suddenly dry lips before returning to her gaze. He could see the indecision there in her gaze. He'd tried to be patient with her. She obviously was scared. Hell, if he was being honest, he was as well. He didn't believe in soulmates. It hadn't been real to him until he'd felt her heartbeat leap when her eyes had opened and she'd met his gaze in the living room. It had felt like a punch to the gut. The seconds stretched out now as he watched her.

"No," she finally said, and he felt some of the weight lift off his shoulders.